By MIKE DILLON
Showella is without a rider for the $A350,000 Underwood Stakes on Saturday week, but Frank Ritchie is not stressing out.
Damien Oliver, who was aboard Showella in the mare's fantastic first-up third in Saturday's $A250,000 Craiglee Stakes, is unable to commit this time.
But not because the champion Victorian jockey does not rate the mare a huge winning chance.
Oliver told Ritchie weeks ago the only firm riding commitment he had made for the entire Melbourne spring carnival was for Sydney-trained Shogun Lodge in the $A2 million Cox Plate.
That means riding him in the serious lead-up races and when the Underwood Stakes is being run at Caulfield, Oliver will be in Sydney riding Shogun Lodge in the George Main Stakes.
Oliver has made it clear he wants to be back on Showella for the $A2 million Caulfield Cup and $A3.3 million Melbourne Cup and Ritchie knows for absolute certain that is true - Oliver paid for lunch at a plush restaurant in Melbourne on Monday when he met Ritchie and Showella's owner Terry Archer to discuss plans.
Jockeys don't buy lunch.
Before Oliver committed to Showella, Ritchie had his former champion apprentice Eddie Wilkinson, now riding in Singapore, on standby.
Ritchie approached Wilkinson again yesterday, but there is a problem.
"Eddie said when he originally applied to the Malaysian Racing Association he asked for permission to be absent from Singapore for the dates of all Showella's races," said Ritchie.
"He said he got the impression they weren't all that pleased when he told them it probably wasn't going to happen now and he feels they may not be too helpful if he goes back to them with only one date.
"He wants to re-apply for a Singapore licence at the end of this season and understandably he doesn't want to jeopardise that.
"I will be surprised if we are able to get Eddie."
Ritchie would then likely approach Paddy Payne.
"But Paddy's riding Streak in the big cups and he may be running in the Underwood."
Showella's Craiglee third was superb.
Because of the heavy Flemington surface only one or two runners all day could make ground from the tail of the field. The Craiglee was even tougher because it developed into a sprint home and Showella's sprint from last on the corner delighted Ritchie and Oliver.
Showella had not previously raced on anything worse than an easy track and the fact she managed Flemington's tough going eased the pressure for Ritchie.
"It means if we continue to get a wet spring in Melbourne it doesn't rule us out of the cups.
"I would much rather see dry tracks, but at least this gives us another option."
Although she had to have a fair level of fitness to do what she did on Saturday, Showella will continue to improve dramatically, says Ritchie.
"She has thrived since the race. It's the first time she's come back from a race and eaten a full feed and her total eating pattern, which is never that good when she is away from home, has been fabulous this time.
"When she ran in the Mercedes Classic in Sydney her mental attitude was so much better than when she took on the Ranvet at her previous start and I expect the same pattern to develop here."
Racing: Absent Oliver forces rethink for Showella
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