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By Ray Hickson

It only takes one horse, one big win, for a jockey on the fringes to take a giant leap forward and UK rider Adam Farragher hopes that’s what happens to him after Saturday’s $2 million Inglis Millennium (1100m) at Randwick.

Jockey Adam Farragher (Pic: Bradley Photos).

And Farragher is quietly confident Long Throw has what it takes to be the horse to snare that big win thrust him into the spotlight as the autumn carnival approaches its dawn.

Back in November the 26-year-old notched his first Australian winner, on Spywire for Long Throw’s trainer Ciaron Maher at The Gong meeting, and while the results have been slowly flowing he’s ready for things to speed up.

“It takes a bit of adjusting when you first start riding but I feel a lot more comfortable and confident,’’ Farragher said.

“Ciaron is giving me loads of opportunities and I’m getting some outside rides as well. It’d be nice to get a big Saturday winner like that, it’d be a nice boost going into the carnival.”

Long Throw, $16 with TAB on Thursday, made a promising debut as she ran second behind Outspan at Rosehill three weeks ago, dashing home from the back.

Farragher, aiming to be the second UK rider to win the Millennium after Tom Marquand won on Prime Star in 2020, had seen a bit of the youngster prior to riding her first-up and thought there was plenty to work with in terms of talent as well as improvement to come.

“First day at school you’re open minded but she was a filly that was pleasing us, we were hopeful of a decent run and she did that,’’ he said.

“She only went into that off the back of one trial so naturally I thought there would be plenty of improvement out of that. And it felt like that on the day.

“You could tell she was learning on the job and improving and the penny was starting to drop late.

“I thought she did some very good late work through the line. She is going to have to improve going into a race like the Millennium but naturally she will and hopefully she can run a good race.”

The filly had barrier one for her first outing and while it served her well enough on that occasion Farragher loves where she’ll jump from on Saturday.

He said it’s important for her to be able to build some momentum to produce the sort of finish that she did at Rosehill given she’s staying at 1100m.

“I was quite happy with the draw, purely because in a big competitive field if you were drawn a bit too soft it could be a bit congested near the rails,’’ he said.

“She’s a filly I’d rather be a touch wider on and keep her nice and smooth and be able to build when I want to build.

“She is only having her second start so if it was getting congested in a split second you can lose a bit of distance.

“In time she will appreciate going a bit further but a strongly run race should play to her strengths.”

Stayer Juja Kibo resumes in the Inglis Digital Feb Late Sale 19-24 Handicap (1600m), a race populated with similar types kicking off their autumn preparations.

Long Throw runs second at Rosehill on January 17

The lightly raced gelding was last seen running third in the Group 1 Metropolitan in October and while Farragher hasn’t ridden him in his recent trials he’s familiar with the horse’s ability.

“I rode him a bit when I first got here, he’s a horse that a mile is going to be sharp enough for him but I think you could, say that about a good few of them in that field,’’ he said.

“It’ll be a nice starting point for him and hopefully he can have a good prep.”

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