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Our Kobison set for The Shorts at Randwick
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Waller Group 1 dreaming with Mergeila
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Father Barry continuing family legacy for Dickie
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Exciting spring is instore for Thurlow
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Francis Lui strikes with Happy Valley treble
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Green with plenty of chances at Winton today
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Te Akau firing with a Cambridge quartet
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Guineas start on line for Public Attention
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A big month of firsts for Leighton
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Trust In You readies for his Australian debut
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Trust In You readies for Australian debut
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Weights released for Cups
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Warmonger assigned 53.5kgs for Cups
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101. Saying two G1 from Singapore doesn't count is rubbish. They were probably better than some of the G1 handicaps we had going around not that long ago. -
By Chief Stipe · Posted
'I had nothing left': Kiwi jockey great Opie Bosson retires from racing www.nzherald.co.nz “I was out there running in my sweat gear and ran past other people enjoying their Christmas Day and I thought ‘what am I doing?’,” said the 44-year-old. “I know I have thought about retiring before but this is it. There is definitely no coming back. “I have been thinking about it for a while, to be honest since [champion racehorse] Imperatriz retired in April. “I know I won’t get to the heights she took me to again and I just wondered more and more why I was doing it.” Bosson has often struggled with his weight, which needs to get as low as 54kg to ride all the leading chances he would like to maximise his career potential and earning power. He isn’t the only jockey fighting, often losing, that battle but for much of 2024 that discipline has become dread. “The wasting [losing weight] has never really been easy but when your heart is in it and you are loving the racing then you can do it. “But when your heart isn’t in it the wasting becomes too hard. You don’t want to and in the end you can’t do it anymore. “That is how I felt on Christmas Day and I knew it wasn’t coming back.” Bosson rode at Ellerslie on Thursday, finishing fourth in the Group 1 Zabeel Classic on Ladies Man, who at its previous start had given Bosson his 99th career Group 1 win, racing’s elite level. The next question is obvious: why wouldn’t Bosson keep going to get to the magical 100, which he has stated was his great goal? “I don’t want to be out there, especially in Group 1s, going around when I shouldn’t be,” he said. “The horses and their owners deserve better than that and that is how people make mistakes, riding after wasting too hard or when their mind isn’t right. “I don’t want to retire on a low or after an accident.” As Bosson talks it is not with the desperation or dehydration of past, short-lived retirements. His voice is laced with relief and resignation. He is already talking about tomorrows. Staying in racing, not on horseback but close to the animals that have provided the peaks of his personal rollercoaster. “I will take some time to work it all out. I am still coming to terms with it.” His loss to New Zealand racing will be immense. Bosson is one of the few New Zealand sportspeople, especially those living here, to have frenzied crowds chant his name. “There is only one Opie Bosson” was the chorus when he dominated Karaka Millions meetings. He made decisions that won people millions of dollars without thinking, and was gifted with instinct and affinity with horses. Even New Zealand’s greatest modern day jockey and world champion James McDonald talks of being “schooled” by Bosson and puts him on the list of the best he has ridden against anywhere in the world. As for Bosson’s best rides, his love for Imperatriz is obvious and he is proud of winning the Caulfield Cup on Mongolian Khan. The list of thank yous is long: Te Akau boss David Ellis, trainers such as Mark Walker, Murray Baker, Allan Sharrock, even young Sam Bergerson, their training partners and all their staff. “The owners who have put me on their horses, I have to thank them and all the horses I have been lucky to ride.” Bosson brought up his 2000th New Zealand win aboard Move To Strike at Te Rapa in December 2023 and finishes with a career tally of 2146 wins, 2059 of those coming in New Zealand, said manager Aidan Rodley. Bosson won 51 races in Australia, 16 of those at Group 1 level, as well as 31 in Singapore, including two Singapore Group 1 races that didn’t count towards his international Group 1 tally. “It has been amazing. Hard at times but I have been doing this for 30 years. That is long enough. “I don’t know how I know it’s time to finish but it is. I can feel it inside.” In the end, the numbers won’t really matter. Whether Bosson rode 99 Group 1s or 101, he did something only the greats in any sporting arena can achieve. He was, on his best days, able to influence and even control outcomes simply by being in the contest. Because he was so good his opposition would be mesmerised and while they watched, he won. But now the price of winning, the price of riding, is more than Bosson’s body, and mind, are willing to pay. -
Handicapping .. farcical! -
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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Taking Trigon Lad to New Plymouth on Friday was something of an afterthought for Pukekohe trainer Michael Rogers, but that back-up plan produced a welcome return to the winners’ circle in the Landmark City of New Plymouth Cup (1600m). Trigon Lad has been an accomplished performer for his breeders Duncan Equine Partnership, who share ownership of the nine-year-old with Rogers. Now in his sixth season of racing, the Towkay gelding has had 74 starts for five wins, nine seconds, five thirds and $186,054 in stakes. There have been numerous highlights along the way, including victory in a $65,000 Rating 65 at Te Rapa on New Year’s Day in 2023. He also ran second in a $50,000 Rating 65 on Auckland Cup Day at Ellerslie in March of 2021, beaten by a long head by subsequent black-type performer Rapid Falls, and was runner-up behind Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) winner Asterix in a 1600m open handicap at Tauranga in January of last year. It has been slimmer pickings in more recent times, with Trigon Lad heading into the City of New Plymouth Cup on a 24-race winless streak that would have ticked over to two years on New Year’s Day. But his connections never lost faith, and on Friday they were rewarded with a relentless front-running performance. Trigon Lad was the $12 outsider among a seven-horse field for the City of New Plymouth Cup, but got in nicely at the weights with Jim Chung’s 2kg claim dropping him down to 56kg. He went straight to the lead and dictated terms, setting only a steady tempo throughout the $30,000 race. Knights Realm drew up alongside him coming up to the home turn and seemingly had him covered, clearly hitting the lead at the top of the straight. But Trigon Lad lifted again, clawing his way back level with Knights Realm and getting back in front to win by a long neck. “That was a really good, tough win,” Rogers said. “He may not have won a race for a couple of years, but he’s never been far away. He’s always thereabouts and just needed a bit of luck to go his way, which finally happened today. “My plan was originally to take him to Taupo on Monday, but he didn’t look like making the field for the Taupo Cup (2000m). So we switched to New Plymouth as a back-up plan. Coming away with a win today is a big thrill. “We’ll get him home now and then have a bit of a look around to see what other suitable races might be around for him.” View the full article
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