Chad Set For Singapore

South African-born jockey Chad Schofield has been granted a visiting jockey’s licence to ride at five feature race meetings in Singapore, starting with the Gr2 Stewards’ Cup meeting on Sunday, 30 June.

The 30-year-old has been engaged by trainer Tim Fitzsimmons to ride Lightning Strike in the Stewards’ Cup but will take the reins on stablemate Golden Monkey in the Gr1 Lion City Cup on 28 July, the Gr1 Raffles Cup on 11 August, the Gr1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup on 7 September and the Gr1 Grand Singapore Gold Cup on 5 October.

Chad Schofield and Golden Monkey will team up again in the Gr1 Lion City Cup on 28 July (Pic – STC)

Schofield has ridden Golden Monkey four times previously to two wins and two thirds. The pair landed the Stewards’ Cup last July and the Gr3 Fortune Bowl this February but was beaten into third by Lim’s Kosciuszko, both in the Gr2 EW Barker Trophy in April and the Gr1 Kranji Mile  in May.

This will be the British national’s fifth one-day visit at Kranji, where he has won six races thus far, all for Fitzsimmons.

Making his debut in Sydney in 2010 at the young age of 16, Schofield was a talented young rider who was crowned Sydney and New South Wales champion apprentice jockey in the 2011/2012 season before going on to become Melbourne’s champion apprentice jockey in the 2012/2013 season.

The son of former jockey Glyn Schofield also enjoyed a successful stint in Hong Kong for seven years where he bagged six Group wins in more than 200 wins. His biggest success came aboard Singapore Sling in the 2018 Hong Kong Classic Cup before he returned to Sydney in late 2021.

Besides Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, the Durban-born jockey has also ridden in Japan, South Africa and the United Kingdom. In 14 years of riding, Schofield has clocked in over 600 wins, including four Group 1 wins, namely the 2013 WS Cox Plate aboard Shamus Award and three other Group 1 races in the following year: the Newmarket Handicap atop Lankan Rupee, the Champagne Stakes with Go Indy Go and the Queensland Derby on board Sonntag.

Currently licensed by Racing New South Wales, Schofield sits in 14th position on 23 wins on the New South Wales Metropolitan jockeys’ premiership this season.

He goes to scale at 55kgs.