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A quick trip to Sydney last week for a barrier trial ride was all Kiwi jockey Leith Innes needed to convince him to stick with unbeaten New Zealand three-year-old Sacred Falls when he starts his autumn campaign at Rosehill on Saturday.
Innes is enthusiastic about the autumn prospects of Sacred Falls, who is now under the care of Sydney's premier trainer Chris Waller.
Innes has ridden Sacred Falls in all his six wins and he retains first refusal of the ride on the O'Reilly colt despite his transfer from the Tony Pike/Mark Donoghue training partnership in NZ to Waller.
To reassure himself that Sacred Falls was progressing well under Waller, Innes made a special trip across the Tasman last week to partner the colt in a 1050m trial at Randwick.
Sacred Falls left him more than satisfied with his effort to finish fourth behind champion mare More Joyous in the trial.
“Leith reported that the horse was thriving and said it had been a very satisfactory trial,” said Andrew Castle, the jockey's NZ manager.
”He is delighted to continue his association with Sacred Falls and can't wait to get back to Sydney to ride him this weekend.”
Sacred Falls will have his first start for Waller in the G2 Royal Sovereign Stakes (1200m), a sterling test despite his impressive NZ record that includes wins in the G1 NZ 2000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton and the G2 Hawkes Bay Guineas (1400m) at Hastings.
He has won from 1000m to 1600m with his racing pattern seeing him run on from the second half of the field in most of his races.
Waller must be pleased with the progress of Sacred Falls as the colt is his only nomination among the 12 entries for the Royal Sovereign Stakes.
Notably Sacred Falls is the only G1 winner among the entries that include the unbeaten Rebel Dane, G1 placed maidens Ashokan and Honorius and Melbourne stakes winner Rusambo.
Innes has won almost 900 races over the last 10 years but has not ridden at Rosehill nor has he ridden a winner in Sydney in that time.