Jockey James McDonald on Wednesday returned a winner on his first ride since being banned 18 months for having an interest in a bet on Godolphin's Group 1-winning Astern (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro). McDonald won Warwick Farm's opening race aboard 3-year-old gelding Cormac (Aus) (All Too Hard {Aus}) for trainer Chris Waller, and later added the card's fifth race on Monasterio (NZ) (Savabeel {Aus}) for the same trainer. Waller won a total five races on the card.
McDonald was retained rider to Godolphin at the time of his ban, and now looks to reinvent himself as a freelance.
“It's been well-documented over the last week how I've matured,” McDonald told Sky Thoroughbred Central. “Hopefully this is the start of bigger and better things. I want to move on, and hopefully this is a good starting point.”
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