Turbo-charged: Bosson waiting to push go button on Amarelinha

For three months Opie Bosson has been waiting to push the turbo button on Amarelinha, and today the champion jockey thinks he might get his chance.

The New Zealand filly has never been beaten against her own sex and with the Randwick track drying by the day she could be heavily backed in the A$1 million ATC Oaks in Sydney.

Bosson has ridden Amarelinha is three of her last four wins, all at Group level including her domination of the NZ Oaks field on March 20, suggesting she should stay the 2400m today.

But circumstances, some of them of her own making, in her most recent starts, have robbed Amarelinha of what Bosson believes will be her most potent racing pattern, sitting back with one run on a firm track.

She got those conditions in the Eight Carat at Ellerslie on Boxing Day and exploded at the 250m mark for her arrival on this stage, and she swooped again but exposed earlier in the Karaka Classic Mile when it took Aegon to deny her victory.

In the Ellis Classic, at Te Rapa in February, she settled in the trail and when asked to sprint on a firm track was dazzling under Danielle Johnson but then had to slog her way through the wet to win the Sunline Vase at Ellerslie.

A slow start and a compounding leader left her in front at the top of the straight in the Oaks at Trentham but at least the way she ran through the line erased any doubts about her stamina.

“When I think back to that Eight Carat win on Boxing Day, that is how I think she goes best,” Bosson said.

“She was awesome that day and that is how I’d like to ride her on Saturday. Sitting in, following them on a good surface then coming wide on the big track at Randwick, that could be perfect for her. I think she is a very good filly, I always have and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her do something special,” said Bosson. Amarelinha has the draw to play the hunter, with many of her key rivals drawn around her, so Bosson shouldn’t need to look too far for a tail to follow.

First comes getting her out of the gate safely as she jumped very awkwardly in the Oaks and again in an Ellerslie trial last week.

“We have asked to get a starter’s assistant up with her so I think she will be fine.

“I will just need to be more awake,” Bosson, who is confident he has no issues making the 56kg, told the Weekend Herald.

The Oaks will be no gimme for Amarelinha but she looks the fastest filly in the race, whereas the likes of Harmony Rose and Montefilia are rugged stayers who will give the Kiwi filly and Hungry Heart something to chase.

If Amarelinha wins the Oaks it would give trainer Jamie Richards a shot at perhaps his greatest raceday as he has Avantage red hot in the Group 1 at Te Rapa and Probabeel warm favourite for the A$1 million Queen Of The Turf, as well as Entriviere making her Australian debut in a A$300,000 Group 2.

Entriviere meets fellow Kiwi mare Bavella while the other big New Zealand chance today is The Chosen One in the A$2 million Sydney Cup.

There is no doubting his ability as he was the first Southern Hemisphere horse home in the Melbourne Cup and a close third to Verry Elleegant in the Caulfield Cup last spring.

But he finds himself topweight for a 3200m and backing those is a shortcut to the poor house, especially when they have drawn the outside gate.

He is good enough but The Chosen One is going to need all the big-race magic trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman and jockey Hugh Bowman can conjure.