Racing: Bosson turns Cambridge colt loose

Opie Bosson won on Turn Me Loose on Saturday before taking a break to deal with weight issues.

You can have the best-laid plans in racing but what happens when a horse develops a mind of its own?

Bank on a jockey without jangled nerves, according to Cambridge trainer Andrew Forsman after Turn Me Loose won the $85,000 group 2 DHL Hawke's Bay Guineas in Hastings on Saturday.

Forsman, who co-trains with Murray Baker, labelled Opie Bosson a brilliant rider after a "keen" 3-year-old brown colt deviated from the script.

"Opie didn't panic. He just worked quietly with him and put him in the right place even though he couldn't cover the same ground so he just let him go around the front to chase them down," he said of Bosson, who was at his last meeting before taking a break in a bid to exorcise weight demons.

"From the wide barrier draw [No14] we knew we had to be that much better than them," Forsman said after Turn Me Loose beat Prince Mambo and Danielle Johnson by half a head.

Johnathon Parkes rode Longchamp to third place by a neck with favourite Stratocaster and Leith Innes settling for fourth a length behind.

The wide barrier didn't affect Turn Me Loose much because Forsman revealed the plan was to ride him back.

"He ended up having to go forward so he ended up doing a lot of work," Forsman said but mindful the colt was good enough to adapt.

Forsman said Turn Me Loose would have two more races - the 1400m Sothy's Sarten Memorial Stakes at Te Rapa on October 27 and then perhaps to Riccarton for the 1600m NZ 2000 Guineas on November 8.

"He's going to be a much better horse. His owners are in Melbourne so making it to group 1 is the ultimate aim," he said.

Darci Brama's record time of 1m 19.97s Michael Walker set in 2005 remains intact with Turn Me Loose clocking 1:21.31.

Hastings trainer Patrick Campbell said Don't Change didn't find traction.

He felt the ground to finish in a disappointing mid-field position.

"We'll have one more shot on Labour Day Weekend Saturday at Trentham before making a decision ( on whether to turn the horse out]," Campbell said.