Bosson enjoys winning return to Te Awamutu
Opie Bosson ended a seven-year hiatus from riding at Te Awamutu on a winning note on Saturday.
The Pukekohe jockey had no ready explanation for not having ridden at the track for so long, though he claimed the track had not always been a kind one to him results-wise.
But he wasted no time getting back accustomed with winning at the tightturning track, dictating from the front on the Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained Magic Albert filly Orbity, who defiantly held on to prevail in the $12,500 Marshalls Pharmacy 1150 for two-year-olds.
“I don’t know why I hadn’t ridden here for so long. I’d been living down the line I guess, but I didn’t even ride the midweek meetings here,” Bosson said.
“I was going to ride a midweek meeting here not long ago but they called it off. I haven’t had a lot of luck here either.”
While Bosson’s strike rate at Te Awamutu might not be as sharp as it is at other tracks, Orbity provided him with his 19th win from 168 rides on the course, which couldn’t be described as a poor record.
Bosson was impressed with Orbity, who slipped clear in the straight and held off a late charge from debutante Hands Orf to score by half a length, with Shebang three-quarters of a length back in third, 1¼ lengths clear of the late-finishing Attica.
Rode Orbity to victory in a twoyear-old race at Te Awamutu.
“It was a tough effort with 59kg on her back because she’s only a little thing,” Bosson said.
Baker described Orbity as a “midget” and said her size could hold her back as she got older, so he was keen to strike for a stakes win now, identifying the Listed $ 50,000 Ryder Stakes (1200m) at Otaki on July 27 as her next target.
“We’ve probably got to have a go now. She’s only small and they will catch her up soon enough, but if we can get a bit of black-print it will make her worth breeding from,” Baker said.
“She’s only a midget but she’s a lovely filly – quiet as. She’s a half-sister to Meet George, who is one of Brisbane’s top sprinters. He’s stakes-placed and he’s won more than $400,000, so the family can run.”
Glenn and Lisa Morton race Orbity, while Glenn’s mum Billie Morton, who raced Gr I Australian Derby winner Nom du Jeu from Baker’s stable, races Meet George.
Cambridge trainer Linda Laing said Hands Orf would bypass Otaki in favour of a $ 20,000 two-year-old race at Te Rapa the same day, while Te Awamutu trainers Keith and Brendon Hawtin will press on to the Ryder with Shebang, as will Hamilton trainers Graeme and Debbie Rogerson with Attica.
Baker and Forsman completed a successful day at Te Awamutu when Chill Bill landed the $15,000 The Gretna Hotel @ Taihape 1580 to help the partnership leapfrog the Rogersons into third place on the national trainers’ premiership.
Baker and Forsman now have 63 wins, one more than the Rogersons.
Christchurch’s Michael Pitman, with 83 wins this season, holds a 10win lead over Palmerston North’s Lisa Latta.
Bosson, with 137 wins, has a six-win buffer in the jockeys’ race on Matthew Cameron, who claimed a double at Te Awamutu, on the Toby Autridge and Cyril Goodwin-trained A Soldier’s Song and Chill Bill. Premier Sydney trainer Chris Waller has capped a record-breaking day with four winners at Rosehill.
His first runner on Saturday, Oompa Loompa, had the honour of giving Waller 156½ Sydney winners for the season to better the record held jointly by TJ Smith (1975-76) and Gai Waterhouse (2002-03).
That out of the way, Waller sent out Fulgur, Eigelstein and Secessio to boost the tally.
With seven meetings left for the season and a 2013-14 racing programme featuring 10 fewer city fixtures, Waller is likely to set a mark only he can come close to.
“The pressure has been there the last month,” Waller said.
“It’s been a long season and I don’t take it for granted. I’ve got great staff and we have good systems in place.”
Part of the system has involved importing stayers from Europe, a practice Waller started when he was setting out because he couldn’t afford to buy yearlings in Australia.
Fulgur, Eigelstein and Secessio are all part of that process, with the latter two imported from Germany.
“We used to go to England but those horses are getting expensive now,” Waller said.
“Eigelstein and Secessio came on the same plane. They are good, solid horses and the German horses are good value.”
A former New Zealander, Waller has made Sydney his home and said he was thrilled to be training in such a competitive arena.
But he hasn’t restricted himself to Sydney, ending the season as the leading Gr I trainer with nine wins with eight different horses.
“We just try to place the horses where they are suited and hope they reach where we want,” he said.
Secessio is owned by a syndicate managed by Debbie Kepitis, the daughter of Bob Ingham, who anointed Waller as his trainer when he began a new venture after selling his Woodlands concern to Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley.
“I know Mr Ingham watches the races every Saturday and he has been a major part of my success, as has the whole family,” Waller said.
“This record is something I’ll look back on. I just want to keep going along and improving. There is always something to learn as a trainer.”
The record was inevitable but no less emotional for Waller.
With his wife Stephanie and parents John and Marilyn trackside, Waller fought back tears of relief at the job well done but not yet finished.
“I’m no genius as a trainer. It is a relief,” he said.
But Waller won’t be resting on his laurels. “We went into the autumn last year leading by about 45 and Gai whittled that down to four or five,” Waller said.
“We don’t sit back and relax. There’s not much we can change but just keep coming to the races to get winners.”