An impressive track gallop on Tuesday morning has left colourful Warwick Farm trainer Bjorn Baker confident his star colt Ozzmosis will be hard to beat in Saturday's $1 million Group Two Arrowfield Sprint at Randwick.
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The Arrowfield Sprint for three-year-olds is one of three Group Two races on Saturday's big 10-race program, which includes four Group One contests, on the second day of The Championships.
The value of Ozzmosis as a stallion skyrocketed after he won the $2 million Group One Coolmore Stud Stakes down the famous Flemington straight at only his fifth race start in November last year. The son of Zoustar then left his backers disappointed with an unplaced first-up run in the $1 million Group One Galaxy at Rosehill last month.
Stewards reported following that race after Ozzmosis ran 14th of 14, he was fractious in the barriers and bounded in the air when the gates opened. Jockey Rachel King was almost dislodged and lost the use of the near-side stirrup iron. The stewards requested Ozzmosis needed to trial before he raced again.
Baker told ACM Racing he preferred to forget the last-start failure by Ozzmosis in the Galaxy.
"It was a horror watch in the Galaxy," he said.
"There's nothing we can do about it now. It was just a bad experience. Ozzmosis had no hope of winning the Galaxy once he blew the start. We gave Ozzmosis a couple of days' break before getting him ready for the barrier trial at Warwick Farm last week. He jumped well in the trial with Rachel on board. I was really happy with his track gallop over 1000 metres at Randwick on Tuesday morning. He went to line really strong and showed he's ready to run a big race in the Arrowfield. I couldn't have been any happy with his track gallop."
The former New Zealand trainer said barrier four was ideal for the lightly-raced three-year-old on Saturday.
"Rachel will push forward from the gate," Baker said.
"I would say Ozzmosis will be on the speed. That's his normal racing pattern. It looks an ideal race for him. I'm not looking for any other races for Ozzmosis at this stage until we get through Saturday. We'll see how we go in the Arrowfield before making any other plans. It's just one step at a time. We're not rushing anything with Ozzmosis - as he's a very valuable colt. A win in the Group Two Arrowfield alongside his Group One victory in the Coolmore would really lift his value as a future stallion. Ozzmosis is by Zoustar and he's one of the best young stallions and we're in no hurry with our young colt."
Ozzmosis, who has won four of his six outings and earned more than $1.48 million in stakemoney, is rated the $3 favourite for the Arrowfield in early betting markets for the classic sprint by Bet365.
Baker's other runner on Saturday is underrated mare Renaissance Woman in the $1 million Group One Queen Of The Turf. The four-year-old is lining up for her fourth run in this campaign and Baker is looking for a forward showing from Renaissance Woman.
"I think Renaissance Woman is a good place chance at nice odds," he said.
"Her last run at Rosehill was full of merit as she finished the race off in good style and at her previous run she ran a huge effort at Rosehill in a Group One. Renaissance Woman drops back from 2000m at her last start to 1600m on Saturday but apart from that she ticks a few boxes. Josh Parr has the ride and he's got a very good understanding of Renaissance Woman while she's got a good record at Randwick and over the distance. I don't think she's the roughest chance in a tough race. I would be over the moon if she could sneak into a place on Saturday as it would really boost her breeding credentials. They don't give Group One races away and it's for sure the Queen Of The Turf has drawn together a very good field of fillies and mares."
From her 19 starts Renaissance Woman has won four races and collected over $685,000 in prizemoney.
Saturday's $5 million Group One Queen Elizabeth Stakes has attracted 11 runners. Master trainer Chris Waller will saddle up five starters. Cascadian and Pride Of Jenni, who ran one-two in the Australian Cup at Flemington last month are key chances once again in the weight-for-age race over 2000 metres.
