Quiet achiever Cosgrave hoping to make a big noise at Caulfield

Many leading European stables now rely on locally based riders for their big-race raiders when they come to Australia, but Godolphin is an exception.

We all got used to seeing Frankie Dettori suit up here in the royal blue for countless Melbourne Cups, and the likes of William Buick, Kerrin McEvoy (when he was based in Europe) and James Doyle have been regular visitors and winners Down Under.

Pat Cosgrave is not such a familiar name, but he showed he can get the job done if the horse is good enough when landing the group 1 Caulfield Stakes on Benbatl last weekend, and he is hoping for a bold showing from Best Solution in the Caulfield Cup.

Cosgrave is from Banbridge, County Down, in Northern Ireland, and he is the latest in a long line of top-quality riders to have come out of Ulster.

Pat Cosgrave at Werribee this week.

Pat Cosgrave at Werribee this week.Credit:AAP

The greatest jumps jockey of all time, AP McCoy, came from Country Antrim, while another former English champion jumps jockey Richard Dunwoody also came from Northern Ireland.  On the flat leading riders John Reid and Ray Cochrane (who rode the first ever English trained winner of the Caulfield Cup, Taufan's Melody) were also from the country.

Cosgrave hasn't quite scaled their heights yet, but is quietly optimistic that his mount, the top weight in the Cup on Saturday, will put up a bold show.

''He ran in all the big races as a three-year-old and ran pretty well. He went to Dubai last winter and won a handicap off 60 kilos and then ran fifth in the Sheema Classic, which is a top race.

''He's a solid performer. It's not very often he runs a bad race. We are coming in with high hopes that he runs a big race.''

Cosgrave these days splits his time between Newmarket in England and the Middle East.

''I am not contracted (to Godolphin) but I am lucky enough for the past three or four years I have been riding for Saeed in the UK and in Dubai also.

''We seem to have struck up a pretty good partnership and I am riding some nice horses.''

Cosgrave has been based in the UK for  15 years but he started in Ireland. After serving his time as an apprentice at The Curragh with Kevin Prendergast he moved to Tipperary, where he joined Aidan O'Brien's team at Coolmore for a couple of years.

''I was champion apprentice with Aidan, then moved to the UK at the end of 2003 when I was 21.

''Ireland is quite tight-knit. There's probably only four or five big jobs, it's too niche a market and the UK looked to have more opportunities.

''I think the UK has probably got the best racing in the world, although the prizemoney is not as good as here. We have some really good horses, it's good racing and nice tracks. It's full on.''

This isn't his first trip to Australia. He had ridden in Sydney for a little while when he was a teenage apprentice but he admits the pattern of racing in Australia is a fresh challenge.

''It is a little start-stop, it's a little bit different, go fast for a furlong, then we walk, then get to the half-mile, sprint again. But it's interesting enough.''

After he rides Best Solution he heads to Dubai for the start of the season there before returning to partner Saeed bin Suroor's galloper in the Melbourne Cup.

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