Boss Lured Back To Macau, But His Focus Remains On Group 1s

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday March 25, 2005

John Schell

Glen Boss will aim to continue his group 1 rampage at Randwick this week before heading to Macau for a three-month stint.

The Macau Jockey Club confirmed on its website Boss had been granted a visiting jockey's licence from April 17 until July 16. It was in Macau almost three years ago that Boss broke a vertebra in his neck in a race fall, with fears he would never walk again.

Since overcoming the injury Boss has been Australia's dominant group 1 rider winning 18 "majors" including successive Melbourne Cups on Makybe Diva.

Boss hopes lightly raced colt Pendragon can continue the rider's group 1 roll in Saturday's AJC Sires' Produce Stakes at Randwick.

"He is the forgotten horse in the race," Boss said of the Bart Cummings-trained colt. "I know he is way up in class and has only had the one start, but he is one hell of an impressive horse."

Pendragon debuted in the Illawarra 2YO Classic at Kembla Grange when a late-charging second to the Gai Waterhouse-trained Permissive. "He missed the start that day, was held up at the top straight and had to change course in the run to the line," Boss said. "For a first-starter to have all that go against him and still hit the line for second against some handy opponents was a good pointer to his future."

Pendragon has the advantage of gate one in the Sires', with Boss confident it will assist his claims. "He is the horse on the way up and will get every favour from the draw to enable him to step up to the mark," he said. "He's a horse I've got a lot of time for. He'll make a name for himself."

Boss will also continue his association with Paul Perry's crack sprinter Fastnet Rock in the group 1 TJ Smith Stakes.

OPPORTUNITY LOST: Melbourne trainer Tony Vasil's dream of a dual-hemisphere group 1 double this weekend have been dashed with his top filly Opportunity ruled out of the Sires' Produce Stakes at Randwick.

Vasil is in Dubai to saddle up last year's Caulfield Cup winner Elvstroem, which will start from the outside barrier in the Dubai Duty Free on Saturday night.

Opportunity has been scratched from the Sires' Produce after succumbing to a leg injury incurred last week. The daughter of boom stallion Redoute's Choice won her first two starts before a luckless fourth in the Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield.

That form prompted her owners, headed by Arrowfield Stud chief John Messara, to part with $135,000 for the late-entry fee into the Golden Slipper, a race in which she finished seventh from the outside barrier after being kicked before the race.

"She was checked over by our vet this morning and she was a bit scratchy in the [off-fore] leg where she was kicked last week," Messara said on Thursday of the decision to scratch Opportunity. "She is just too valuable to risk. She's going to be such a lovely three-year-old and we'll now put her away and look at races like the Thousand Guineas in Melbourne next spring."

Opportunity has been staying at the Rosehill base of trainer Tim Martin, who advised Messara that if he trained the filly he would scratch her. "That was good enough for me to want her to go to the paddock," Messara said.

GET IN EARLY: The Randwick racecourse betting auditorium will be the venue for Sunday's Call Of The Card for the $2 million Doncaster Handicap at the track the following day.

"Punters would be crazy not to attend," said bookmaker Rob Waterhouse, who will be joined on Sunday by fellow bookmaking heavyweights including Con Kafataris and Colin Tidy.

"I think it's likely you could get better odds about the winner than on race-day.

"Most importantly, punters can see where the smart money is going. It showed last week when the most heavily backed horse at Friday's Call Of The Card was the Golden Slipper winner Stratum."

© 2005 Sydney Morning Herald

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