Racing: Young McDonald can have his farm

You don't reckon he's happy? James McDonald has just won the Golden Slipper at Rosehill on Saturday aboard Mossfun. Photo / Getty Images

Golden Slipper winning riding percentage beats milking cows.

Cambridge-born James McDonald wanted to be an All Black or a farmer.

Late on Saturday in Sydney it was Dan Carter who? and explain to me the difference between a Jersey cow and an Ayrshire.

Not literally. McDonald knows he made the right decision to sit on a thoroughbred's back, despite it not being his first preference.

And, anyway, could you really see a Jerry Collins v James McDonald on-field stoush?

Make no mistake, jockeys use more physicality, coupled with cunning and intelligence, when race riding than anyone outside the industry could possibly imagine.

On Saturday at Rosehill, McDonald used all three disciplines in maximum quantities to win the world's richest 2-year-old race, the A$3.5 million Golden Slipper, on Mossfun.

Yet it was luck and coincidence, the factors that rule our lives, that ended up winning the Slipper for the Sydney-based New Zealander.

Jimmy Cassidy, still rated by the best judges as Australian's finest jockey, is under suspension and received special permission to be in the Rosehill jockeys' room on Saturday to help counsel close friend Tommy Berry get through the day riding for the memory of his twin, Nathan, who died on Thursday.

So highly thought of is New Zealander Cassidy that James McDonald, heading to be among the world's best himself, sought Cassidy's advice on Saturday on how to ride Mossfun.

"He told me that if I'm going good, to go up the rail," an emotional McDonald said yesterday.

"When you get beaten by Jimmy in a race you learn a lot.

"Watching him beat me in the Coolmore last week taught me plenty. You ask for advice.

"Jimmy said, 'Look, your 2-year-old handles the wet. Have a look at the fence and have a go and show your Kiwi qualities'."

On the way to taking Mossfun to the barriers McDonald had no real intention of going up the rail, which every jockey had avoided all day.

He had instructions from trainers John and Michael Hawkes to find the centre of the track in the home straight if possible.

When Mossfun muffed the start and settled two lengths last, Cassidy's words suddenly echoed from the back of McDonald's mind to the front.

He knew he couldn't possibly win if he went around the outside of the entire field. McDonald shocked everyone when he stayed on the rail rounding the home turn then shocked himself when he found Mossfun brushing past the favourite Earthquake just inside the 200m. "I thought I could win the Slipper but I didn't think it was my year when we left the gates."

Earthquake's disappointed trainer Peter Snowden estimated McDonald and Mossfun saved eight lengths in staying to the inside.

You cannot help but like and admire James McDonald. What the 22-year-old has achieved would turn most heads, but he remains one of the most grounded jockeys in the business. He is the ultimate professional and polite to a fault.

Yesterday, rather than bask in his own glory, McDonald praised those who helped get him to where he is. "John O'Shea brought me over from New Zealand two years ago and I can't thank him enough for his support."

Despite Jim Cassidy's 20-plus years at the top of his profession in Australia, he remains a staunch New Zealander.

"I'm a Kiwi and always will be," he said after winning his 100th group one race on Zoustar at the Melbourne Cup Carnival and repeated the line the other day.

McDonald hasn't, and won't, forget where he came from. Neither has he given up on farming. "When I retire I'll be on the first plane back to New Zealand. And I still want to farm."

The way he's going, flying might no longer be the mode of transport when that day arrives.

Slipper a perfect fit

• James McDonald took fellow New Zealander Jim Cassidy's advice and ignored conventional thinking.

• McDonald took Mossfun up the despised inside rail and beat the favourite Earthquake.

• Earthquake's trainer Peter Snowden estimated the winner saved eight lengths taking the inside route.