Racing
Adkins making hay while winter sun shines
A former top apprentice is continuing to make inroads in Sydney.
Former champion junior rider Andrew Adkins has been making a splash in recent weeks and he is focused on building that momentum into the backend of the Sydney season.
The hoop celebrated his second metropolitan double this month at Rosehill on Saturday with winning efforts aboard the John Thompson-trained Motoscafo in the Midway Handicap (1200m) and Freight Train for Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr in the TAB Handicap (2000m).
It followed a brace of wins at the same course two weeks ago when he took out the Listed Lord Mayors Cup (2000m) on Touristic and a benchmark race with King's Secret.
The defection of many of Sydney's senior jockeys to Brisbane over the winter carnival has been presenting Adkins with more opportunities in town and he is determined to continue working hard to make the most of them.
"Any winners are good winners but obviously in town, especially on a Saturday, is much better," Adkins said.
"I'm getting good support which I am thankful for and I've just got to try to execute off the back of that.
"Things are good. I've had a bit of success lately and that certainly helps you gain a bit of confidence."
Adkins was Sydney's champion apprentice in 2016-17 but such is the highly competitive nature of the jockeys' room, he has been doing the bulk of his recent riding on the provincial circuit.
Saturday's double took him to nine metropolitan wins this season and 58 state-wide.
He had been successful aboard Motoscafo at Newcastle three starts ago and said that had given him an advantage in knowing how best to ride her.
"She had a really good turn of foot late at Newcastle that day and I wanted to ride her similarly, get to the outside and get her to rocket home," he said.
"She is always strong late if afforded the right opportunities.
"I rode her at on the 'Kenso' (Kensington track) a couple back and tried to ride her forward and she didn't like that."
Motoscafo has now won three of her 10 starts and appears to have inherited some of her family's ability with half-siblings Tristate and Blazing Miss both dual stakes placegetters.
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