Blaike McDougall thankful he remained loyal to Bennelong Dancer

McDougall further enhanced his reputation as the premier jockey in the district by winning the $150,000 feature at Albury last Saturday.

The victory further justifies McDougall's move to Albury after he arrived from Sydney midway through last year with his partner Danielle and their daughter.

But the Albury win on Bennelong Dancer was almost not to be for the 24-year-old as he weighed up his options to ride in the race.

McDougall nearly opted for Forever Newyork, who finished third behind Bennelong Dancer.

"It was tough. Obviously when I moved down here some months ago, I made a really good relationship with Gary Colvin," McDougall said.

"I've rode stacks of winners for him and obviously trialled that horse three times and rode it first up.

"I didn't sleep for a few nights thinking about it. I just went with my gut, the more I thought about riding that horse, it just didn't feel right.

"Riding Bennelong all of the time, every day I was riding her and it was very hard to split them but I'm a big believer in loyalty, it gets you a long way in life and I thought I would be unloyal by getting off Bennelong so I went with my gut."

The rest now is history and Bennelong Dancer is set for a second crack at the $500,000 Country Championships Final at Randwick on April 6.

Bennelong Dancer finished second behind O' So Hazy in last year's SDRA Qualifier at Wagga and then went on to run fourth in the final at Randwick.

McDougall said the Albury victory was the main aim and whatever happens at Randwick with the mare is a bonus.

"Look, that's probably her grand final," he said after the race.

"Even last year, I was blowing up to run second because I thought she should have won and that was because that was her grand final.

"The way she's come on, if she improves again from that, we only need a couple of hard luck stories with the favoured runners in the race and we're going to have a good crack at it, so we'll leave it up to the final."

Bennelong Dancer bolted in by three lengths on Saturday. McDougall admitted he knew he was the winner a long way from home.

"I was bolting," he said.

"Every single day she's just amazed me this preparation. Obviously I've had a bit to do with her. She's so much stronger, mentally, physically. She doesn't look physically stronger but she just feels physically stronger.

"I was just clipping heels the whole race. I just needed to give her a bit of room. I was confident that if I could get her out in the clear and give her a clear run down the straight that I could win the race. We pinged the gates, she's a very good jumper and everything just panned out for us. I didn't do too much, all I did was steer her."

McDougall said the win was 'right up there' with the biggest of his career.

Albury trainer Donna Scott described it as 'easily' the biggest win of her career.

Scott will now weigh up whether to give Bennelong Dancer a start or trial before the final at Randwick.

Scott is considering a run in the $50,000 Albury City Handicap (1175m) on March 21, or a trial on the same day.

READ MORE