LACHLAN Neindorf continues to make his mark on his adopted home of Victoria as he added the Mornington Cup to his recent haul of winners.
In the past fortnight, he has ridden 12 winners and he now sits second with 88 winners in the Victorian jockeys’ Premiership, only three behind Jamie Mott.
Neindorf was successful in the Mornington Cup on the Ciaron Maher-trained Kings Valley, who won a golden ticket into the Caulfield Cup with his win.
Although Neindorf has won two Group 1 races in Adelaid,e he said that the Mornington Cup victory probably meant more to him than those wins.
’I know it is going to sound outrageous, but it probably means more to me winning one of these than it does any of my group 1s,’ Neindorf told Racing.com.
Neindorf moved to Mornington for part of his apprenticeship before he returned to Adelaide after not having the success he craved.
‘’It’s just for the simple fact that when I first came over here as an apprentice, I lived in Mornington,” Neindorf said.
“I went back to Adelaide and built myself from the ground back up and felt like I was trying to rebuild a skyscraper. I then came back and had another go over here and based myself here again and this is more so home for me than Adelaide,” he said.
‘’It almost makes me a bit emotional, but it means a lot to me.’’
Maher’s clients bought Kings Valley in Europe with the plan to win a major Cup race.
Maher won the race three years ago with Right You Are, who subsequently finished fifth in the Caulfield Cup.
The other feature event at Mornington was the Hareeba Stakes (1200m) and it was won by the locally trained Recon, who was ridden by Patrick Moloney and stormed home from last to win.
Recon is trained by veteran Mornington trainer Pat Carey and his younger training partner Harris Walker.
Carey was emotional after the win, as he has trained at Mornington for 30 years and Hareeba was a superstar sprinter who was trained on the course.
