McDonald bounces back from injury to win 2016 Lonhro Plate

Jockey James McDonald bounced back from an injury scare to land the first race of the day at Randwick on Telperion in the Listed $125,000 Huawei Lonhro Plate (1100m).

Telperion scores a soft win in the Lonhro Plate at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.

McDonlad had to forego several rides at Canterbury last night after he injured his right ankle when his mount Reiby The Red reared up in the barriers, squashing his leg against the uprights.

But the leading jockey was quick to recovery and rode a patient race on the John O’Shea trained Telperion ($2 favourite), bringing the Street Cry colt from the back of the five horse field to record a soft a one and a quarter lengths win.

The James Cummings trained Prized Icon ($3.60) raced on the pace and battled on for second with Spright ($6) a close third.

“When you ride a fast one, it eases the pain, you know, “McDonald said.

“He is a good horse.”

McDonald wasn’t over vigorous on Telperion, but did give him a reminder with the whip to keep his mind on the job in the straight.

“He felt like he was going to dart out the gate. When I went onto the track he had a look at the gates, didn’t want him to turn left on me.”

O’Shea rated Telperion was among the top of his smart team of two year olds but will give him one more run before finalising a program for the rest of the Autumn Carnival.

“He did a good job. James probably got there a little bit quicker than he thought, he gathered them in pretty quickly and then probably had a look around when he got to the front,” O’Shea said.

“He is a lovely colt and we are very happy with him and he has a lovely future.”

“He rates very highly and when we get to the races and get a little bit longer, he will really come into his own.”

“He will probably have one more run and then we will assess where he fits in and what race we want to run him in.”

The Pat Farrel trained Alliterate was a late scratching at the barriers before the start after the filly kicked out in the stalling stalls, causing some minor injury to her hind legs.

Lonhro Plate Results

Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Starting Price
1	2	TELPERION	John O’Shea	James McDonald	–	4	56kg	$2F
2	1	PRIZED ICON	James Cummings	Hugh Bowman	1.3L	2	56kg	$3.60
3	8	SPRIGHT	Garry Frazer	Jason Collett	1.4L	1	54kg	$6
4	6	SUGARPARMA	Peter Robl	Brenton Avdulla	3.3L	3	54kg	$10
5	4	VIENNA WALTZ	Gai Waterhouse	Tim Clark	4.9L	5	54kg	$14