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By Greg Prichard

Star heavyweight jockey Aaron Bullock is a fabulous judge of horses, so when he’s prepared to push himself to ride one at under 58kg at a country meeting you know he rates the opportunity highly.

That’s what the plan is for the Taree meeting on Thursday, where Antilopini ($1.65 TAB) easily looks to be the best of his five rides.

The three-year-old filly, trained by Kris Lees at Newcastle, will contest race four, the Barrington Coast Vets Class 2 Handicap over 1412 metres.

Antilopini was an acceptor for a Class 3 event at Muswellbrook on Tuesday, but was scratched with the Taree race preferred.

Bullock wouldn’t have ridden Antilopini at Muswellbrook because he couldn’t have gotten near making the weight of 55.5kg, but with the horse handicapped on 56.5 for Taree it gave him the chance to get to one kilogram over.

“The stable messaged my manager on Monday night and he got on to me to say if I could ride it at one over they’ll run at Taree instead,” Bullock said.

“I don’t usually go under 58 on country days, but I said 100 per cent I will because I like the horse, I think she’s worth it, and I reckon she’ll win. She’s a very progressive horse with a bright future.

“I guarantee this race is no stronger than the race she won at her last start and Kris is the king of placing them right so he’d know that for sure.”

Aaron Bullock wins on Antilopini at Taree (Pic: Trackside).

Astute trainers are routinely prepared to book Bullock to ride their horses at half-a-kilogram or a full kilo above allotted weights because he’s so good at what he does.

And after finishing just behind the placegetters at each of her first three starts Antilopini has exploded into action to win two straight races very impressively each time.

The increased distance of her events after she contested pure sprint races at her first three starts along with added maturity as she gets close to the end of her three-year-old season are no doubt factors behind the improvement.

And another factor as she gets more used to racing is her apparent love of heavy tracks.

Both of Antilopini’s wins have come on surfaces rated a Heavy 8, at Scone and Taree, and the Taree surface will be heavy again on Thursday. It was rated a Heavy 10 on Wednesday morning.

Antilopini, ridden by apprentice Shannen Llewellyn, came from second last in a field of nine to win a Super Maiden over 1300 metres at Scone by almost a length on May 31.

Then Bullock rode her for the first time when she came from barrier 13 in a 14-horse field and sat three and four wide before going five wide on the home turn and winning a Benchmark 58 event over 1400 metres at Taree on June 23.

Antilopini was solidly backed from $4 to $2.90 that day and despite her wide run she bolted in by two-and-a-quarter lengths.

Bullock combined his enormous experience with his high opinion of the horse to form his race tactics.

“I’d been very impressed by her win at Scone because it was very hard to make ground from the back that day,” he said.

“I got booked for Taree and she drew a very wide barrier, but she just absorbed the pressure and won running away from them. I couldn’t believe it. I thought, ‘This is a proper horse’.

“If you try to push them forward from a wide barrier you burn energy and if you restrain them the race gets away from you.

“You can win races by sitting wide and conserving energy. I let her sit wide comfortably and she did the rest. It was a big jump in grade, so there was plenty of merit in the win.

“She’s one of those horses that could win three or four in a row and probably have a spell when Kris decides and then come back and go on with it.”

Bullock recently passed the century of winners across NSW for this season and is gearing up for a big week next week that includes the two-day Grafton carnival.

“I got down to 57.5 to ride in a feature race in Sydney last Saturday and I’m trying to stay in that zone for next week,” he said.

“I’ve got Newcastle Tuesday, Grafton Wednesday and Thursday, Tamworth Friday and back to Sydney Saturday, so I’m playing the long game and not letting my weight get out during that stretch.”

*First race 12.40pm. Gates open 11am. Entry $10 adults and $5 concession. Café Nosh Taree bistro, bar and full TAB and bookmaker facilities in the air-conditioned Winning Post Function Centre. See Manning Valley Race Club Facebook page for more details.

All the fields, form and replays for Thursday's Taree meeting