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By Ray Hickson

Like every jockey, Jason Collett loves to win. But as far as the Sydney Jockeys Premiership goes he'd be more than happy with second.

By almost every measure it’s been a season to remember for Collett and now he’s in a position to secure second place behind James McDonald he says it’d be a nice way to cap off the last 12 months.

Jockey Jason Collett (Pic: Bradley Photos).

Collett goes into the penultimate city meeting of the season level pegging with Zac Lloyd on 67 winners and would like to think has the quality of rides at Randwick on Saturday to give him the chance to take a lead into Warwick Farm's finale on Wednesday.

“Now that the opportunity is there, definitely I do want to finish second,’’ Collett said.

“Early on you’re just trying to win as many races and do the best you can and that leads to where we are now.

“There’s not much more I can do than what I have been doing to achieve it, and what will be will be.”

While he’ll likely just fall short of his career best 122 winners for a season, set in 2021/22, his mounts have won over $16 million and he’s notched 20 stakes wins including a Doncaster Mile – both personal bests and second in a Sydney premiership would also be a first.

The 34-year-old rides three early favourites at Randwick – Callistemon ($4.40 with TAB), In Summer ($2.80) and Oh Diamond Lil ($2.10) – and eight of his 10 rides are under $10 in the markets.

He’s keen to reunite with In Summer in the TAB Highway (1800m) after he said the outside barrier second-up, when a closing third behind Pensativa over the mile two weeks ago, forced him to ride negatively.

That’s not going to be the case from barrier one on Saturday and Collett said he’ll be making use of the gate which should give the mare a prime chance to strike.

“We needed the gate and she does get it this time, and a little further,’’ he said.

“We didn’t want to be back that far and how she cleared the gates led to that. It took out her chances of winning but the way things played out it sets up really well for this weekend.”

Callistemon was a beaten favourite at the same meeting but Collett said she’s capable of bouncing back in the Midway Handicap (1600m).

The caveat there is he’ll need a little bit of fortune having drawn the outside barrier but a favourable one didn’t help her cause as she ran fifth behind Walking Painting in a similar event.

“We had a better barrier and tried to ride her a bit closer, because of how the track was playing, and it did lead to getting bottled up which she didn’t like,’’ he said.

“When she did get out she didn’t exactly sprout wings, she found the line, and it’ll definitely lead to her getting more room from that barrier. We’re just going to need a bit of luck.”

Tactics will come into play on in-form mare Oh Diamond Lil in the Mostyn Copper Handicap (1600m) with Collett well aware he’s not likely to be allowed to lead on her with the same ease as he did when winning last start.

But he said the four-year-old, trained by David Pfieffer, has already proven she doesn’t need to lead at all costs and will happily take a trail if that’s what eventuates.

“It was my first ride on her last start but she has won from a position not in front before and I’m confident she will be fine,’’ he said.

“If there’s another leader in the race, perfect, they can give me a cart into it.

“She’s got a great racing style, she’s tough and the Randwick mile is no issue. The only thing I’d say is I don’t think she’d want too much rain.”

Among his other rides Collett said he’s prepared to give Changing Colours another chance in the TAB Handicap (1800m) after she was beaten as favourite at her second Sydney start.

In Summer runs second at Randwick on July 12

He feels staying at the 1400m in what was a slowly run race didn’t help as she ran sixth behind upset winner Extraordinaire and he said the extra distance could be key.

“A mile probably would have been better than straight to the 1800m I would have thought but she came out of a solidly run race and was able to quicken off that,’’ he said.

“Last start it was more muddling run. She drew favourably and we tried to use it and she didn’t like it that much.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Randwick meeting