![Tempted and Chad Schofield destroy their Premiere Stakes rivals at Randwick ahead of a likely Everest rematch with Ka Ying Rising. [Bradley Photos]](https://betsy.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2370961.jpg)
Chad Schofield might credit luck and timing for giving him his first opportunities aboard star gallopers Tempted and Ceolwulf, but it’s his skill and execution that have kept him there.
Schofield has developed an incredible association with both horses that will continue into the biggest day of the Sydney spring carnival when Tempted takes on Hong Kong superstar Ka Ying Rising in the Everest (1200m), and Ceolwulf benchmark mare Autumn Glow in the King Charles III Stakes (1600m).
His partnership with Tempted originally started as a one-off booking, but as Schofield continued to get the job done, has extended into a five-start unbeaten streak with the potential of more to come.
“I guess I was lucky to get on her in the first place. She was already a high-profiled and credentialled horse, but she’s obviously gone to a new level since then,” Schofield said.
“I got on her as a race-to-race proposition, but I’ve just been lucky enough to keep getting the job done on her. Long may it continue.”
Schofield has developed a similar bond with Ceolwulf, one that stretches further back.
Horse and jockey first teamed up to win the 2024 Epsom Handicap-King Charles III Stakes double, and Schofield has ridden him in all but one of his 17 starts since.
The hoop has no doubt that intimate knowledge of a horse can make a difference at the top level.
“Horses like Tempted and Ceolwulf, now that I’ve ridden them as much as I have, I feel like I know them as well as I possibly can,” he said.
“I know exactly how they like to be ridden, what their assets are. They’ve both got similar styles in terms of how they race.
“I’m just very lucky to be able to go to the races on Saturday knowing I can hop on those two horses.”
While Ceolwulf is chasing his third King Charles III Stakes (1600m) crown, Tempted is considered Australia’s best hope of ending Ka Ying Rising’s 21-race winning streak.
Schofield is content with her draw in barrier one, and as good as her past two wins have been, he says the best is yet to come.
“Her two runs this ‘prep’ she has drawn wide, and I’ve had to reverse park to get cover and bring her back,” he said.
“At least from that draw I’ll be able to let her be as close or far back as she wants to be.
“I feel like she’s getting better too. She was very good last prep as a three-year-old, but she’s come back bigger and better. She was awesome first-up, she improved on that second-up, and she’ll be peaking now.”
As for whether she can topple the world’s highest rated horse in the globe’s richest race on turf?
“I think she can,” Schofield said.
“It’s hard to say because we don’t know how he’s travelled, or how he’s going to handle the conditions. But all I know is Tempted is flying and she will handle the conditions.
“If he comes out and beats Tempted, I’ll take my hat off to him because I know how good Tempted is.”
