Racing: McDonald aims to put overseas lessons to use

Jockey James McDonald (C) with tennis players Sacha Jones (L) and Flavia Pennetta (R). Photo / Dean Purcell

It will be mental rather than physical differences you may or may not see in James McDonald's riding at Ruakaka tomorrow.

The 18-year-old apprentice will be having his first New Zealand ride in 2 months, during which he rode in Ireland and England.

McDonald is smart enough to have worked out that if he was going to glean anything from riding against some of the world's best in Britain, he was going to have to pick it up himself - it wasn't going to be handed to him.

He says he learned plenty from riding alongside the likes of Johnny Murtagh and Frankie Dettori.

One tip he did pick up, he says, is the importance of timing.

"In England and Ireland, it's extremely important to work out the speed of races.

"In New Zealand, jockeys use the home bend as a guide as to when to press the button, but over there you're riding down 1600m chutes and it's critical to know how fast you're going and when to sprint.

"They are generally really moving from the 600m on courses that are up and down in contour.

"You have to be awake to what's going on the whole time."

McDonald rode two winners from just 15 rides in Ireland and two seconds and a third from three mounts in England.

One of the highlights was spending a day at the home of Frankie Dettori.

"We spent time in his sauna and knocked about all day - Frankie's a really nice guy."

The overseas trip cost McDonald the jockeys' premiership, which he knew was a possibility before he left.

"If Opie [Bosson] caught me he caught me, and he did. Good on him, he got busy and did the job."

McDonald said he would knuckle down to ride out the majority of the new season in New Zealand.

"Around the same time next season, perhaps even a little earlier, I'll look towards riding in maybe some other part of the world for a few months, possibly Asia.

"Meantime, there is no contract with Te Akau to rely on this season [taken up by Opie Bosson], so I'll have to work a bit harder to get outside rides."