Busy holiday looming for Jason Collett

HE IS already familiar with Ball Of Muscle’s star sibling and now Jason Collett has pledged to make the mercy dash back from New Zealand to continue the younger brother’s rise in the Canterbury Classic on Saturday.

Despite missing the weekend’s Rosehill card with the lingering effects of a back injury, Collett will take care of business either side of the Tasman after Christmas following a quick trip back to New Zealand for the start of the festive season.

He will partner his dad Richard’s Karaka Million-bound Selfie at Ellerslie on Boxing Day before jetting back to Australia early on Saturday morning in time for Ball Of Muscle’s acid test in the listed Canterbury feature.

Collett gave his back the allclear to resume riding later in the week after being dislodged from a horse and colliding with the running rail while heading to the barriers at the Randwick trials last Monday.

‘‘I’m feeling

fine

and

I

just needed a few more days to get it right,’’ he said. ‘‘It wasn’t quite right [on Saturday] and didn’t really want to be going there giving the horses a 100 per cent [chance]. You don’t half expect it, but you know the risks involved. It can happen and it did happen.’’ The young rider has an affinity with Ball Of Muscle’s dam Parfore, which has foaled Joe Pride’s group 1-winning sprinters Tiger Tees and Terravista.

And with Ball Of Muscle’s regular rider Glyn Schofield taking an enforced break through suspension over the Christmas period, Pride had no hesitation calling on Collett, who has piloted Terravista to four of his nine career wins.

‘‘Obviously he’s coming up really well,’’ Collett said of Ball Of Muscle. ‘‘His record is [six from eight] and I had a bit to do with his brother in Terravista and I know what the family is capable of. I know Joe has got a big opinion of him and so does Glyn Schofield.

‘‘I may have a chat to Joe [during the week] but he looks quite easy to ride. He puts himself right there. You can hold him together and he will finish off.’’ The Canterbury Classic, part of Sydney’s new summer sprint series, will be the first time Ball Of Muscle has been tested in stakes grade. But first Collett will try to find a way to shore up Selfie’s Karaka Million hopes at Ellerslie after originally telling his dad the horse would be a late-maturing two-year-old.

‘‘I had a ride on him back in September or October when I was back over there and I didn’t mind him,’’ he said. ‘‘I thought he would be more a late two-year-old and he won his first race when he was pretty raw. It’s quite exciting to get on him now before we head to the Karaka Million.’’

While Pride has a strong affinity with the Parfore breed, the Warwick Farm trainer is set to take care of another close relation to Terravista.

The Darley Classic winner’s three-quarter brother Champagne Rein, by the same sire Captain Rio, will head to Australia and is set to be added to Pride’s team in the new year.