"It's great, isn't it?" said Reith, set to make his Australian return at Canterbury on Saturday after cutting short his Hong Kong stint. "It's overwhelming to get support from all the top trainers in Sydney and we've drawn some decent gates, and with a bit of luck we should have a good day."

And it would not be beyond the realms of possibility for Reith to ride as many winners at the rare Saturday meeting in Sydney's south-west as he did in the first three months of the season in Hong Kong (two), regarded as the toughest jockey arena in the world.

Reith has never been one to be bogged down by statistics but he points instead to the recent success of Tommy Berry and Hugh Bowman, both graduates of the Hong Kong finishing school.

"I believe it makes you a better rider and sharpens you up," he said. "You see things differently after being over there and it makes a huge difference when you come back here.

"I concentrated a lot on [Hong Kong], but I contacted a lot of [trainers] before I came back to give them the heads up with what was going on. They were more than welcoming to offer me rides when I got back and offer support."

Perhaps none more than John O'Shea's Godolphin team, which raced under the maroon and white silks of Darley when Reith was a stable regular for former head trainer Peter Snowden.

The passage of time has not stopped Reith diving straight back into their famous colours, this time on smart mare Miniature in the listed Canterbury Classic.

A couple of weeks after beating home all bar Ball Of Muscle in a restricted race, Miniature will take another shot at the half-brother to group 1 sprinters Terravista and Tiger Tees in the 1200-metre feature.

"I've done a bit of work on her," Reith said. "I think it's a good race for her and she's drawn a good gate and she can race on speed or race back.

"Obviously the speed of the race is going to determine where she is in the run, and her run was probably the run of the race apart from the winner last start, and if she can repeat that she should be going to close to winning.

"Going to Canterbury, which is a different track to the tracks these horses have been racing on, and I know she's run well there before. She should be super-fit going into the run [on Saturday] and if she can get a good run during the race, I think she should be finishing off the race strongly."

Reith's book also includes Snippets Land for Peter and Paul Snowden while Chris Waller will leg him aboard You'll Never in the fifth. Bart and James Cummings have also secured Reith's services for last-start winner Cast In Stone in the last.