Nash Rawiller will be reunited with Silent Achiever in the Cox Plate.
Trainer Roger James has confirmed the New Zealand mare will have her next start in the weight-for-age feature on October 25 rather than the Caulfield Cup a week earlier.
Rawiller, who is in Hong Kong on a short-term contract, will return to ride the mare for the first time since the autumn.
“He is pretty enthusiastic about her as well. He can’t wait to get back and ride her,” James said.
Rawiller won the Group One weight-for-age double of the Ranvet Stakes and BMW on Silent Achiever in Sydney in the autumn.
Japanese riding commitments ruled Rawiller out of Silent Achiever’s first-up run in the Memsie Stakes.
A month-long suspension incurred at the end of his Japanese stint ended any chance of him regaining the ride on the mare at her next two starts.
Damien Oliver has ridden Silent Achiever three times this spring including her ninth in the Turnbull Stakes (2000m) on Saturday.
James admitted Silent Achiever got further back than he wanted in the Turnbull.
“To be fair to Damien, he got off her on Saturday and said `my blunder’,” James said.
Silent Achiever won her only start at Moonee Valley in the 2012 Group Two Crystal Mile and James said the Cox Plate (2040m) was the best option for her.
“I can’t fault my horse,” James said.
“She has won around Moonee Valley. I think she’s better suited at weight-for-age than carrying those sorts of weights in handicap conditions.
“I do think she does enjoy cut in the ground. So she might just enjoy the cushion at Moonee Valley.”
Oliver has been booked to ride last year’s Cox Plate runner-up Happy Trails in Saturday’s Caulfield Stakes and Cox Plate.
Silent Achiever had been favourite for the Cox Plate earlier in the spring but is now at $15 with Fawkner and Sacred Falls favourites at $7.
Dissident and Happy Trails are next at $10.
Those four are all set to clash in Saturday’s Group One Caulfield Stakes (2000m).
The 17 nominations for the Caulfield Stakes also include the Andrew Balding-trained international performer Side Glance who finished sixth in last year’s Cox Plate before winning the Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington.
