Damian Lane has a big few weeks ahead of him in Australia and the ace rider is hoping Sydney’s Group 1 autumn features will be the platform from which he can spring into another couple of fruitful months in Japan.
Before he boards a flight to Tokyo, with wife Bonnie and a young son in tow, the Melbourne-based jockey has the prospect of partnering his recent Newmarket Handicap winner Joliestar in the G1 T J Smith Stakes and the prolific Treasurethe Moment in the G1 Vinery Stud Stakes. And then there’s Japan’s Geoglyph in the G1 Doncaster Handicap.
Lane’s record riding for Japanese connections competing offshore is notable and includes a G1 Caulfield Cup on Mer De Glace and a G1 Cox Plate with Lys Gracieux, both for the Northern Farm-affiliated Carrot Farm. Geoglyph races in the famous black, red, and yellow silks of Sunday Racing, another Northern Farm-connected race club.
The 2022 G1 Satsuki Sho hero will carry 55kg in the Doncaster as he aims to end a run of 14 losses since that classic win at Nakayama three years ago.
“It’s hard to find a decent ride in those good Sydney handicaps because my lowest is 53kg, so I can’t ride three quarters of the field,” Lane told Idol Horse. “Geoglyph is obviously born with some really good ability, but he’s mixed his form a little bit recently. I am just hopeful that he can rekindle some of that early promise.
“He won a Guineas and has not won since, but he’s obviously of good ability and I’m just hopeful more than anything that he can put it together. Maybe he likes to travel as he’s put in a couple of runs overseas. He had a reasonable weight which is one of the reasons I took the ride: it’s hard to find a good Doncaster ride.”
The Tetsuya Kimura-trained six-year-old’s run of outs spans distances from 1600m to 2400m, as well as runs on dirt, and in four countries outside of Japan. Among those was a sound fifth in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar last November.
“I think his best chance is taking a seat in behind in a high-pressure race,” Lane continued. “The weather could be anything in Sydney at this time of year, it could be one or the other, wet or dry, so it could be run on any ground.”
Lane has forged a winning combo with the crack three-year-old Treasurethe Moment this season and is looking forward to holding the reins again when the filly goes for a seventh straight win in the G1 Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill a week Saturday.
“She’s a beauty; she’s exciting,” he said of trainer Matt Laurie’s G1 Crown Oaks heroine. “She’s obviously beating the fillies in Melbourne pretty comfortably. There’s a couple of better ones in Sydney that she’ll come up against next week in the Vinery, so that’ll be another test for her, but she can only be going as good as what she’s been doing.
“She’s a very versatile horse, too: she’s good from the barriers, she can go forward or back. She is really adaptable so I’m looking forward to testing the waters in Sydney next week and then hopefully she holds her form and she goes on to the Oaks as well.”
Lane has four Group 1 wins to his name this season and the latest of those came down the Flemington straight on the Chris Waller-trained Joliestar in the Newmarket Handicap. That gives him a one from one record on the four-year-old filly.
“I am booked on her in the T J Smith, which I think she’s going to be a great chance in, the way she won the Newmarket. There aren’t any horses we should be too scared of based on the Canterbury Stakes, so yeah I am looking forward to it,” he said.
Lane is not locked in for the ride beyond the T J Smith but is keen to keep the new partnership going if that’s what Waller and Joliestar’s owners opt for. The mare’s programme is likely to take in the A$20 million The Everest next October.
“The owners, Brendan and Jo Lindsay, want a jockey to stick with her for good, all the way through, and I’ve obviously said that I’m happy to be that person because she’s going to be very good whatever she runs in,” Lane said.
Lane will shift focus to Japan at the end of April when he will begin a two-month contract with the Japan Racing Association (JRA). His last short-term contract there closed out in early June 2023 and since then he has had three in-and-out visits to ride individual weekends.
“I’m feeling really optimistic,” he said. “I haven’t done a decent stint for a couple years. Last year was just three very short visits so I’m looking forward to spending some more time in Japan.
His son Charlie will turn six months old during their stay.
“Obviously, it’s his first time experiencing Japan, so we’ll see how we go with him in case we’re going to spend more time in Japan in future,” Lane added ∎
