Damien Oliver has secured the final Best Bets Star of the Saddle of the 2019 Spring Racing Carnival to cap an historic AAMI Victoria Derby Day for the Hall of Fame jockey.
The 47-year-old excelled above all others on the Flemington card to take home the $100,000 prize and a set of four race saddles from Peter Horobin Saddlery, valued at more than $3,000.
Oliver held top spot on the leaderboard for the entirety of the nine-race card, thanks to wins aboard Miami Bound in the Group 2 G.H. Mumm Wakeful Stakes (2000m) and Warning in the Group 1 AAMI Victoria Derby (2500m).
Those wins helped secure Oliver’s place in history at Flemington, having now broken the record of Melbourne Cup Carnival wins with 74 victories over his 31-year career. The win aboard Warning was Oliver’s sixth Victoria Derby success.
The champion hoop finished the day on a winning tally of 11 points, thanks to a trio of placings aboard Order of Command in the Group 2 TAB Stakes (1200m), Libertini in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) and Pippie in the Group 3 Furphy Sprint (1100m).
Dwayne Dunn finished in second position on nine points thanks to wins aboard Exceedance in the Coolmore Stud Stakes and Tofane in the Furphy Sprint, while Craig Williams finished third on six points after winning the Group 1 Kennedy Cantala (1600m) with Fierce Impact.
Today was the final instalment of the jockey series that was launched on TAB Turnbull Stakes Day at Flemington in early October with Jordan Childs the inaugural winner, pocketing $50,000.
The Star of the Saddle then continued on Caulfield Guineas Day where Damian Lane and Kerrin McEvoy shared the $50,000 prize with Craig Williams taking home a $100,000 cheque a week later on Caulfield Cup Day.
The second tie of the series occurred across the two-day Cox Plate Carnival where Jamie Kah and Dwayne Dunn finished level on 10 points apiece and split the $100,000 prize.