Racing marvels to join forces at Rosehill

By Mathew Toogood

SYDNEY, June 5 AAP - Two racing marvels from the NSW Hunter Valley can confirm age is no barrier to racetrack success when they join forces on Saturday.

Record-breaking jockey Robert Thompson will partner nine-year-old Motspur for the first time in the Listed June Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill.

Motspur showed he still had the zest for competition with a comeback stakes win at Scone last month, while 54-year-old Thompson, who has posted more victories than any other jockey in Australian racing history, is riding as well as ever.

Newcastle-based trainer Kris Lees labelled Motspur "an old marvel" after his first-up Scone win and said the gelding had trained on in good fashion for his June Stakes tilt.

"He hadn't won a race for 12 months but he was able to get up at Scone and break his own race record which was pretty satisfying," Lees said.

"It's rare to have a horse that showed so much as a two-year-old to still be competing at nine.

"He was a very smart horse from day one. He won his first three starts and I ran him in a Group One Galaxy at just his fourth start when he was a three-year-old.

"He was in the market that day but finished midfield.

"To still be winning stakes races at nine is pretty amazing."

The June Stakes attracted 21 nominations including the Peter Snowden-trained Skytrain who was a luckless runner behind Motspur at Scone.

Welkom Gold and Zaratone, both stakes winners over the 1100m Rosehill course, head the weights with 59kg while Skytrain and last-start winner Tromso have 58kg.

Jersey Lily, who is entered for her first start for a new stable, has 57kg along with Motspur.

"This is his right level, off-season Listed level," Lees said of Motspur.

"He has trained on really well. He has had a couple of course proper gallops at Newcastle - on Saturday and again today - and he'll go to the races a fraction tighter but at a similar weight to what he was at Scone.

Motspur returned to Lees stable for this preparation after campaigning for four winless starts during the Tasmanian summer carnival.

His Rosehill jockey was also a regular during the Tasmanian carnival partnering Youthful Jack to three wins in as many starts.

"Robert has ridden a lot for me over the years but I don't think he's ridden this horse before," Lees said.

"He knows his pattern though, and he did beat him in those races in Tasmania."