There's not many people looking forward to winter as much as Waikato jumps jockey Michael Mitchell.
The reigning champion jumps jockey holds a five-win lead over Mathew Gillies in the national jumps jockeys' premiership and the start of the 2016 jumps season finds him just as keen as ever to make an impact.
He travelled to Riverton on Wednesday for just one ride, finishing second on Seeking Redemption for trainers John and Karen Parsons in the open hurdle, and has three rides at Te Rapa on Saturday.
"I'm really looking forward to the jumps season. I've got to make some money," Mitchell said.
His three rides at Te Rapa on Saturday are the Samantha Logan-trained Ngatira Gold in the Visit Cheltenham With 'Wheels' Maiden Hurdle (2800m), the Stephen Ralph-trained Thenamesbond in the Porritt Sand Open Hurdle (2800m) and the John Wheeler-trained Athenry in the Ken & Roger Browne Memorial Open Steeplechase (4000m).
Mitchell rated Ngatira a leading chance in the maiden hurdle.
"There's a couple in there that are going really well - Ooee of Paul Nelson's is running good flat races and so has Zed Em of Kevin Myers' but I'm on a nice horse and I think he's up to winning that," Mitchell said.
He reunites with regular ride Thenamesbond in the open hurdle after the galloper was unplaced on the flat on Wednesday at Matamata, though Mitchell was wary the China Cat gelding's best form was over longer trips.
"There's going to be a lot of pace in that and with 71kg on his back, it's not an ideal race for him. But he's getting ready for the Waikato Hurdles and if Sea King came up and gave him some weight relief, that would help him a lot."
Mitchell finished second on Athenry in the 2014 Grand National Steeples at Riccarton and while the Taranaki jumper sat last winter out with injury, he was looking forward to getting back aboard him at Te Rapa.
"He'll be one to watch this season and I'm interested to see how he's come up. He's still a maiden so he's at a good place in the weights."
Mitchell has watched a couple of prospective mounts for feature jumps races this season fall by the wayside with injury over summer so was keen to line up a couple of leading contenders for upcoming prestige races in the coming weeks.
He has also planned to ride the Shelley Houston-trained Lucky Tonight in an Australia campaign targeting the Grand National Steeples at Ballarat on August 21.
"He's a nice progressive horse and he'll race in the highweight at Rotorua next week then kick off hurdling in New Zealand before he goes over to Australia as a maiden steeplechaser," Mitchell said.
