Three is a charm for Oliver

Champion jockey Damien Oliver made it a treble at Flemington on Saturday winning on the Danny O'Brien trained Second Bullet, but could’ve made it four if he’d been able to stick around for the last race.

After collecting his third winner aboard the Danny O’Brien-prepared Second Bullet in the eighth race, Oliver was ruled unfit to ride in the final event by the club doctor.

With Oliver unavailable, Craig Williams was the only hoop left who could take the ride at 54kg - and he made every post a winner on the heavily-backed Bullpit, plotting a course by himself down the outside of the Flemington straight.

It completed a double for O’Brien, while Williams also got a brace - bookending the meeting after saluting on Lessyd in the opener.

However, the day belonged to Oliver, who also guided home the Colin Little-trained Miss Softhands in Race 2 as well as Lucques for Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra in Race 4.

The treble takes Oliver’s metropolitan total to 30, just two behind leader Dwayne Dunn, who also tasted success when Hellbent won the Inglis Dash.

Story by Tom Biddington, to view Racing.com story click here

Photo by Slickpix, to view Slickpix website click here