McNab went winless at Ruakaka and wasn’t riding at Timaru yesterday, so Kennedy saw the abandoned meeting as a missed opportunity.
“I was on a couple of favourites and would have loved to get a few wins to stretch the margin back out to five,” he told the Herald.
“But I can’t argue with the decision. I went out and inspected the track, and there was a very significant slip mark and smaller slips around it.
“The track was actually very firm underneath, about 2cm down, but with a little rain this morning [Sunday] and the fog, the top got soft but the underneath didn’t get that moisture, so it created a slippery surface.
“It was the right decision, even though it makes for a wasted day.”
Kennedy said frustrating experiences like yesterday’s are all part of the year-long battle for his first premiership here and after winning two in his native South Africa.
“You have ups and downs over the course of a season, but I got that double yesterday [Saturday], so that helps.
“I’d love to get back up to a lead of 10 or something so I can feel more comfortable, but Nabba has shown he won’t go away, so I think we are in for a good battle.”
A further unexpected curveball was thrown with regard to that battle last night when NZTR announced a new synthetic track meeting at Riccarton on Wednesday, which clashes with the Cambridge meeting on the same day.
Riccarton will then race again on Thursday, and that could mean decision-making for both Kennedy and McNab, who both originally intended to ride at the Cambridge synthetic meeting on Wednesday and Riccarton on Thursday before heading to Te Rapa on Saturday.
They will both still be at the Riccarton meeting on Thursday and Te Rapa on Saturday but will have to choose where they ride on Wednesday. As it stands, Kennedy leads their personal battle for the premiership 118-115.
That has seen Kennedy return to favouritism with the TAB to win the title, paying $1.80 to McNab’s $1.90 as their odds continue to seesaw.
Kennedy’s win on Saturday came with the impressive Love Affirmations, who relished the better ground, and Sterling Express in a R65 over 1200m.
As good as Kennedy was on Saturday, the riding star of the meeting was Jasmine Fawcett, who rode a treble, including an effortless debut victory on a smart 3-year-old Dan Vegas, brother to talented Australian galloper Gringotts.
Fawcett continues to be one of the big improvers in the jockey’s ranks, Saturday’s treble taking her to a personal best 60 wins for the season and with seven weeks still to go.
Three of those have been in black-type races and she sits ninth on the premiership, the same spot she filled at the end of last season, but with $1,758,488 in stakes earnings, with her tally making her the third-highest female jockey in the premiership.
The jockeys’ premiership continues to throw up some incredible stats, with 40 more meetings of the thoroughbred season left before the Waverley fixture on July 31 brings the season to an end.
Joe Doyle looks the next jockey set to break the once-unthinkable $5 million in domestic stakes for the season mark, while Opie Bosson currently has the best strike rate of his career at this stage of the season, riding a winner every 3.86 rides, better than his 3.88 strike rate of two years ago.
