Albury trainer Mitchell Beer breathed a heavy sigh of relief when Blake Shinn elected to start his suspension after the upcoming Flemington Finals Race Day at Flemington.
Beer had already booked the in-form jockey to partner Mnementh in the Listed Santa Ana Lane Sprint Series Final (1200m) on Saturday and was not relishing the task of finding a replacement rider.
Shinn rode four winners at Caulfield last Saturday but also earned a 14-day suspension courtesy of a careless riding charge.
"There's probably no-one riding better in Victoria at the moment, and I was elated and then dejected on Saturday," Beer said.
"I saw an article come through that he had been suspended and I thought 'this is just my luck' but he's not starting the suspension until after Saturday.
"He was pretty happy to accept the ride when we committed to the race a couple of weeks ago, so I'm more than happy to have him on."
"There's probably no-one riding better in Victoria at the moment." - Mitchell Beer on jockey Blake Shinn
Mnementh will not have raced for six weeks since beating only two runners' home in the Group 1 The Goodwood (1200m) at Morphettville on May 20.
That followed the gelding's win in the Wagga Town Plate (1200m) at Wagga on May 4.
Beer said the experience of having his first Group 1 runner in Adelaide is something he will never forget.
"The worst part of the whole week was the 71 seconds of his race," Beer said.
"We committed to go and drew (barrier) 16. He was an outsider at best, and given the bad barrier, he just couldn't get in.
"Under the circumstances, I thought his run was really good. We came back home, gave him a week off and he's gone terrific since."
Mnementh has raced down the Flemington straight once before back in 2020, finishing fourth over 1200 metres.
He rounded off his preparation for Flemington with a gallop at Wangaratta on the all-weather track.
"I was rapt with the work," Beer said.
"This all-weather track at Wangaratta is the absolute backbone of the North-East. For us from Albury and Corowa, if they didn't have it, we'd be in a lot of trouble up here.
"The Club are outstanding. Even though we're from NSW, they bend over backwards for you."
Living Legends Santa Ana Lane and fellow sprint superstar Apache Cat will be on-course this Saturday for Flemington Finals Race Day. Be sure to come down to the horses stalls and meet these champions of the turf. For tickets, click here.
