Left-out Mosse could roll right out of NZ
Cambridge trainer John Bell says unbeaten sprinter Mosse could be lost to New Zealand if he does not get a start in Tuesday’s Group I $200,000 Railway Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie.
Mosse was the $3.80 favourite with TAB bookmakers for the set-weights and penalties event but the last-start Group III Concorde Handicap winner remains in grave danger of missing out.
He is currently 16th on the order of entry for the Railway, for which the field limit is 14, and a ring-around of trainers with sprinters rated higher than him yesterday found no likely withdrawals.
He dropped one spot further down the entry order after Kitt Ann Miss sealed a start with her ballot-exempt second placing in Wednesday’s Newmarket Handicap at Ellerslie.
Bell, who races Mosse with Hong Kong’s Benedict Sin, said he had spoken to trainers Lee Somerville and John Wheeler, who prepare Fleur de Lune and Jetset Lad respectively, and both intended starting.
‘‘I don’t know what’s in there that would be coming out. It’s not looking that good for us at the moment,’’ Bell said.
‘‘We’re carrying 56kg – the second-to-top weight – and we’re two [scratchings] away from getting a start. If we don’t get a start, I just feel sorry for those punters who have backed him fixed-odds – and I understand there’s been a lot of money put on – because they’ll lose it all.
‘‘My heart goes out to all those people. I know of punters that have said if they lose their money [on Mosse] they’ll never punt in New Zealand again. It would be a crying shame for those guys – they’re up for $10,000 or more on some of those bets.’’
Mosse has been the subject of several substantial offers from abroad and Bell said he would consider those offers more favourably should Mosse miss a start.
‘‘If we didn’t get a start, New Zealand would probably lose him. We may take the money,’’ Bell said.
TAB bookmaker Stephen Hunt yesterday confirmed thousands of dollars were placed on Mosse to win the Railway Stakes and said plenty more was riding on him through multi bets.
‘‘He’s been the horse everyone has been running through the multis. There’s more than 300 multis with him in and if he didn’t start it would kill all of those,’’ Hunt said.
Several trainers of Railway Handicap runners yesterday revealed they had been asked by handicapper Dean Nowells whether they intended starting their horses in the race.
Lisa Latta, who trains 14thranked Galaxy Star, said: ‘‘They must be worried if the handicapper is ringing up trainers about it.’’
Ironically, it is also understood a complaint has been lodged with New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing that Mosse had been too leniently handicapped.
Mosse was given six points for his win in the Group III Concorde Handicap (1200m) at Ellerslie on December 8 and had the O’Reilly 4-year-old received another three points he would have gained a start.
Calls to New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing to verify the complaint had been made were not returned.
New Zealand Trainers’ Association northern branch president Tony Pike yesterday said the complaint hadn’t come from the association but he had heard that one of its members had lodged a grievance.
Bell said that if Mosse missed a start in the Railway, he would start in a 1400m open handicap at Tauranga next Wednesday.
‘‘At least Tauranga will have a good look at him,’’ Bell said.
‘‘That’s life. If he doesn’t get in, he doesn’t get in. That’s the system and that’s why horses are sold and go offshore.
‘‘But if he’s not good enough to get in, he’s not good enough to get in.