Tom Marquand eyes Sydney carnival riches after landing biggest pot of his career

Tom Marquand capped what has already been a profitable spell in Australia with the biggest payday of his career when he won the $A2 million (£1.04m/€1.24m) Inglis Millennium on Prime Star at Warwick Farm in Sydney on Wednesday.

His share of the winning prize-money of £613,757 is comfortably the most the young rider has earned, and during his six-week stint in Australia Marquand has ridden 16 winners, including two at Group 3 level.

The jockey will conclude his time in the country on Saturday at Randwick's Apollo Stakes meeting before heading to Qatar, but the 21-year-old is planning a return for next month's Sydney Autumn Carnival.

Tom Marquand leading aboard Prime Star at Warwick FarmCredit: Jenny Evans

He told Racenet: "I'm planning it to be a week [at the carnival] but don't honestly know if it's going to change or not depending on other people's plans.

"There is good racing the weekend before and John [O'Shea] has a few nice horses racing."

While Prime Star may struggle to get into the Golden Slipper – one of the highlights of the carnival – Marquand could still land a ride in the valuable juvenile race on one of the Group 3 winners he partnered for Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.

Away Day and Prague are under consideration for the Group 1 and Marquand added: "Nothing has been confirmed. I'm chancing my arm a bit but hopefully it will pay off. There will be plenty of other people who'll be hunting the rides on the pair because they're the ones who have shown their ability."

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