Apprentice Deanne Panya once again displayed her prowess on front-runners when she led all the way aboard Moss My Name to claim the Class 3 TAB Highway Handicap (1100m) at Rosehill last Saturday.
The mare, resuming from a spell, had been the subject of a significant betting plunge, having been backed in from $51 earlier in the week to $6.50 at start time.
After the race, Mudgee trainer Cameron Crockett bemoaned Moss My Name’s recent run of poor barrier draws.
“I thought she’d be a pretty good thing in a Highway race two weeks ago, but she drew 15. She drew 18 the next day, in the Showcase at Narromine, so we had to hang on to her for a few weeks.
“If we’d been pushed out past barrier 10 today, we wouldn’t have come,” Crockett added.
Moss My Name drew 13 for the Rosehill race but jumped from barrier nine after scrat
“She’s a very nice horse, but mentally she’s just taken so long,” he added.
As for Panya, Crockett said: “She is a freak at it (front-running), isn’t she?”
The win was Moss My Name’s third from 18 starts, while it was metropolitan win number seven for Panya this season, placing her second to Brenton Avdulla on the premiership table.
“I hope it keeps snowballing because it can quickly change,” the jockey said after the race.
“I’m very grateful for it so far and I’ll just take it how it comes.”
Highly surprising
Canberra trainer Garry Kirkup was responsible for a boilover at the Rosehill meeting when Highly Geared, ridden by apprentice Koby Jennings, took out the On Point Locating Handicap (1100m) a benchmark 80 for fillies and mares.
The seven-year-old box-seated before looming up to challenge inside the final 200 metres.
Having hit the front, she had just enough left in the tank to score in a photo from the unlucky $6.50 favourite, Alucinari.
For Jennings, the finish was too close for comfort.
“Some of the boys asked me as we were pulling up if I’d won but I said, ‘I reckon I’ve got beat.’
“I’ve ridden that many seconds lately I thought they’d caught us again. It was a relief to see our number come up on the board.”
Highly Geared, who was $18 to $31 on course but paid $41.40 on the NSW TAB, gave Kirkup his first Rosehill winner in 15 years.
Kirkup made his name training for media man Mike Willesee’s Trans Media Stud.
Kris plots cup coup
Newcastle trainer Kris Lees believes he has a realistic chance of an achievement that eluded his multiple Group 1-winning father, the late  Max Lees — a win in the Newcastle Gold Cup.
The trainer’s belief is based on last Saturday’s performances from his gallopers Sense of Occasion and Singing, who fought out the finish of the listed Premier’s Cup (1900m) at Rosehill. Sense of Occasion got the judge’s nod by a head.
“Any race is hard to win but your home cup, you always like to win it,” said Lees.
“I’ve had a heap of placings and I think I ran third last year (with Rio Perdido). I’ve got two genuine chances going into it and it would be a special moment if I could win it.”
Winning jockey Tim Clark said of Sense of Occasion: “It was a really strong effort — he was really strong late and his staying qualities shone through.”
Trainers vow to fight
Gosford trainers were told last week by committee members of The Entertainment Centre (formerly the Gosford Race Club) that they should “start packing” as the eviction of all Gosford-based trainers would definitely be taking place on December 31, 2017.
They were told that they have “no hope” of remaining beyond that date.
Needless to say, the news spread rapidly.
“This will finish me,” one trainer told me. “I can’t uproot my family and move elsewhere. I’ll be out of business and unemployed and I really can’t see myself being able to get another job.
“But it’s not just me. Other trainers will be put out of business as well. It’s not as though we can just move up the highway to Wyong — there are no facilities there for us.
“If we’re evicted, we won’t be the only ones unemployed. Our stablehands and trackwork riders will be out of work too and some local businesses will suffer as well.”
Another trainer told me: “We won’t be giving up without a fight. The battle is just about to begin.”
While the trainers are preparing to fight, they are still hopeful that Racing NSW CEO Peter Vlandys may come to their aid.
Black-bookers
At Newcastle last Saturday, the Chris Waller-trained Revolver justified his short price ($1.90) with an easy win in the 1250-metre maiden.
The three-year-old, who was resuming from a spell, had won two trials in preparation for his third race start. The ease of the win suggests there are more wins in store.
On the same card, trainer James Cummings produced first-starter Power Law to win the 1350-metre maiden.
The three-year-old colt wasn’t ridden out in scoring a comfortable victory. This youngster too looks likely to win again.