With the Wagga Wagga carnival looming, Canberra jockey Brendan Ward is in good form at the right time having produced a career-best five winners for the second time in his career.
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But he says the jockeys' room won't be the same without veteran Kevin Sweeney, who pulled the pin on his career after 46 years last week.
Ward rode five winners from his six rides at Goulburn last Saturday, a feat he managed once before at Wagga Wagga.
He hoped it would stand him in good stead leading into not only Friday's meet at Canberra's Thoroughbred Park, but also next week's two-day carnival at Wagga Wagga - which includes the $140,000 Wagga Wagga Gold Cup (2000 metres) and $100,000 Wagga Town Plate (1200m).
Ward went into the Goulburn meet thinking he'd win two, but didn't expect the big haul.
He'll be hoping two is the lucky number at Canberra on Friday - he also felt Matthew Dale's Shadow Affair and Keith Dryden's Bright Move were his best chances of his six rides, although the latter is second emergency and isn't guaranteed a run.
"Wagga carnival's next Thursday-Friday so there's a bit of racing on of late and I've kind of hit form at the right time I feel," Ward said.
"[Five winners] is a very hard thing to do, I've done it once before at Wagga.
"On paper I had some good rides ... I thought I'd definitely get two winners for the day and the others were very good chances, but it's not an easy feat to do."
Friday's meet will be the first one held at Canberra since Sweeney's retirement.
Canberra Racing wanted to honour the hoop with a presentation, but Sweeney preferred a low key ride off into the sunset instead.
But chairman Chris Ward has paid tribute to Sweeney in his chairman's message in Friday's race program.
Brendan Ward was sitting next to Sweeney when he announced he was pulling the pin.
At first, he didn't believe Sweeney, but he's already noticed his absence as he travels around NSW chasing winners.
"It's a sad thing that he won't be in the jocks' room any more ... it was a bit of a shock, he was sitting right next to me when he announced it at Nowra and at first I didn't believe it," Ward said.
"At Wagga the other day a young jockey sat in Kevin's seat and someone else said, 'Kev sits there' and another jock said, 'That's alright, he's not going to be around any more'.
"It's something you've got to get used to, even at the track work you're used to seeing him about."
The Canberra rail will be out 10 metres and Ward thought it might favour front runners as the swoopers struggle to find room down the outside.
