Legendary Kiwi jockey Lance O'Sullivan thinks the time is now for James McDonald to make the next step of his career and take his talents to the world.
Following his record-breaking week at Flemington, where he claimed 10 wins, the most-ever in the carnival including the Melbourne Cup, O'Sullivan thinks the 29-year-old has done all he can in the continent.
"In my opinion all that he can achieve in Australasia he already has," O'Sullivan tells Newshub.
"He's riding for the number one stable in Chris Waller. Chris is very successful but there's no doubt a lot of his success comes down to McDonald being on top of the horse."
O'Sullivan, who won over 2300 races in his career, thinks a move overseas is a must, to prove just how good McDonald is.
"I believe James will probably look to go to Europe or Hong Kong or something like that," O'Sullivan tells Newshub.
A trip to Europe would set up a week-to-week showdown between the two jockeys O'Sullivan believes are the best in the world.
"When he's riding against Frankie Dettori, Ryan Moore and all those guys, I think between Moore and McDonald they're probably the two best in the world now," O'Sullivan added.
McDonald's 10-win week breaks his idol Brett Prebble's record, cementing his spot amongst the great performers on the turf, and for O'Sullivan it more than cemented his spot as the best jockey from New Zealand.
"He's clearly the best jockey ever to come out of New Zealand, but I firmly believe that he's going to be the best jockey to come out of Australasia."
O'Sullivan is in awe of what the 29-year-old has achieved this week.
"It's a freakish performance. What he's done is something that we'll probably never ever see ever again.
"They're going to be talking about James Mcdonald in 50-100 years from now."
One thing is for sure, however many years they're talking him for, nobody will take away the all-time great week he had at the Flemington carnival.
