A week on from a dominant performance at Te Rapa last Saturday, star jockey Opie Bosson returns to the same venue this weekend with another formidable book of rides.
Bosson rode four winners on the nine-race premier programme last week, including the highly impressive age-group performers Sword Of State andBrando. Despite making a late start to the season, he has rapidly risen to ninth on the premiership table with 24 wins from just 93 rides.
"It was a pretty good day there last weekend, I got on some nice horses and they performed really well," Bosson said.
Bosson has six chances to add to that tally on Saturday, starting with the undefeated Elephant in the first race on the card. "I rode him in a trial before that win at Ellerslie and he really impressed me that day," Bosson said. "He's still learning, but he's got heaps of ability. On that last-start run, you'd think he would be hard to beat again this weekend."
Elephant is trained by Emma-Lee and David Browne, who have also booked Bosson to ride Gone West in the Dunstan Feeds Stayers' Championship Qualifier (2100m).
The Reliable Man gelding was unplaced at Ellerslie in his most recent appearance, but previously scored back-to-back victories at Tauranga and Ellerslie. "He seemed to be a bit disappointing last time but I was impressed with what he did in those two starts before. Hopefully he can bounce back," Bosson said.
The formidable Bosson-Jamie Richards combination will also team with Excitonic, while Bosson's other rides include talented three-year-olds Mongolian Wings and Milford.
"Excitonic has been thereabouts in his last couple of starts and has been working well, while Mongolian Wings and Milford look like nice three-year-old types coming through," Bosson said. "Milford ran in a stakes race last start (seventh in the Group 3 Bone-crusher Stakes), which is good form for a maiden race."
