See who Luke Morris fancies among his six Wolves rides this Saturday

MY weighing room colleague James Doyle is heading off to Australia for the next few weeks to ride for Godolphin and he’ll be joined by plenty of other riders from Britain spending the winter abroad.

While I like to focus on the all-weather these days, going to ride in different countries over the winter is hugely beneficial to young jockeys and apprentices.

I spent two winters abroad when I was an apprentice – one in Australia and one in America – and I think it broadens your knowledge in terms of race riding. A lot of the work in the mornings is done on the clock and you have to get your times right or you don’t ride work.

At home you might ride two or three horses a morning when you’re riding out, but in America you could have somewhere between 15 and 20 rides every morning. It improves your fitness and also your tactical knowledge as you can appreciate how fast you’re going on a horse compared to the clock.

These are the sort of skills you need to prosper when you come back to riding in Britain and it helped me a huge amount. I hope I can put some of the skills into action at Wolverhampton on Saturday and come away with a winner or two.

Saturday rides

5.45 Wolverhampton – Doctor Bartolo
I had been down to ride this horse at Newcastle on Friday, but they switched to Wolverhampton instead and I’m delighted to retain the ride. On his form I think he’s got a good chance in this. Omran is a horse I know and that I like a lot and he’d be a danger, but I think my lad has a stronger chance and trainer Charlie Hills tends to get his horses to improve from their debuts.

6.15 Wolverhampton – Zed Candy Girl
She seems to save her best for the all-weather. This is the right sort of race for her and she ran well on her last start. She’s sure to be there in the shake up, but is always going to be vulnerable to something slightly better handicapped. She has a solid each-way chance.