An inglorious performance in The Galaxy is the only blot on the resume of Group One winner Ozzmosis and his regular rider Rachel King is confident it will stay that way.
The high-class colt hadn’t finished outside the top three in five prior runs, his only defeat a third placing in the Roman Consul Stakes last spring.
A market drifter when taking on the older horses first-up, Ozzmosis tossed away his chances at the start when he became fractious in the gates and missed the jump hopelessly, almost dislodging King in the process.
He has since been back to the trials where a barrier blanket was used to keep him calm in the stalls, and it will again be employed when he is loaded into the gates for Saturday’s Arrowfield 3YO Sprint (1200m) at Randwick.
“He’s a highly strung colt so I guess they’re always teetering on that line of boiling over and he was feeling very well first-up,” King said.
“They’re not machines, we can’t predict what they do, but he’s got the barrier blanket on, he trialled in it the other day and he was really good with that, so we’ll give him that for a bit of security.
“He’s going better than ever. He’s obviously just got to behave pre-race, but I think he will.”
Ozzmosis had a trip away from his home base of Warwick Farm on Tuesday to gallop at the Breakfast With The Stars trackwork session at Randwick.
King guided him through the hitout and said it was an important experience for him as he builds towards Saturday’s Group 2 feature.
“For him, (Tuesday) was more about having a good day out and just keeping his mind settled and relaxed and doing things the right way around,” she said.
“He was perfect, he didn’t put a foot wrong. It was good for him to have an opportunity to have a day out before Saturday.”
Ozzmosis has had early market support and is a clear-cut $3 favourite after opening at $3.50 with lightly-raced colt Schwarz on the second line of betting at $5, ahead of fillies Learning To Fly ($8) and Joliestar ($8.50).
