Grant Cooksley has a simple response when queried on his decision to ride Close Up ahead of Ronchi in today's Distinction Hamilton Hotel 1200 at Te Rapa.
"One's ready and the other one isn't," the South Auckland rider said.
Cooksley has been the regular rider of both horses, guiding Ronchi to four of his five wins and winning three of his six rides on Close Up.
But with the Shinko King gelding Close Up going into his fifth run of his preparation and Stravinsky's son Ronchi likely to take improvement from his first-up run, Cooksley felt his selection was a simple one despite his choice's unplaced last-start run.
"It was a strange run for him, but Shelley [Hale] found he had a stone bruise afterwards so that explains why he just wasn't himself," Cooksley said of that Te Rapa seventh placing.