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Schofield replaces 'sacked' Arnold on Classic's Direct Charge

14th Jan 2013

Daily Telegraph - Brent Zerafa - Monday, 14 January 2013

GLYN Schofield has picked up the plum ride on Direct Charge in next Saturday's $250,000 Inglis Classic (1200m) at Rosehill after regular rider Steven Arnold "sacked himself" in the wake of the colt's Warwick Farm failure.

Cranbourne trainer Robbie Laing was disappointed with Arnold's ride on the Maribyrnong Plate winner (pictured) in the 1000m dash on January 5 which saw him finish sixth behind debut winner Swing Vote.

"I was very disappointed that Direct Charge, being virtually the only horse with race experience, bombed the start," Laing said.

"Steven is a great rider of stayers and he decided to sit there cold on the horse and he didn't make ground, he probably lost ground coming to the corner.

"I really thought he might peel out and give him an uninterrupted passage in the straight but he wanted to go between horses and got spun sideways at the 250m - after all that the run was good."

Laing was saved the chore of having to replace Arnold who gave a refreshingly honest and harsh self-appraisal when he returned to scale.

"He sacked himself," Laing said. "Steven said he rode the horse poorly."

Laing remains supremely confident that Direct Charge can bounce back in Saturday's rich feature after some blistering work in the lead-up.

"He worked terrific at Cranbourne on Saturday," he said.

"He's big, he's strong, he's fit and he's honest and he's crying out for the 1200m."

One of Direct Charge's main rivals in this year's Inglis Classic will come in the shape of Twilight Royale who finished ahead of the visitor when they met at Warwick Farm.