Trip to Sydney worth it for Moss My Name

Moss My Name has made the trip from Mudgee to Sydney worthwhile with a decisive half-length win in the Highway Handicap at Rosehill.

But it was a much closer call whether she actually ran in Saturday’s race at all.

Trainer Cameron Crockett scratched her from a Highway Handicap two weeks ago because of a wide barrier and almost did the same again until four horses drawn inside her were withdrawn.

Moss My Name jumped from gate nine on an improving but still heavy track and Deanne Panya steered her to the lead midway through the 1100m race.

The mare held off Fifteen Sunflowers with Charge Of Light another length third.

“I was very close to scratching her,” Crockett said.

“If she had still had barrier 10 or worse we wouldn’t have come because she would have had to work too hard on the heavy track.

“But she’s been ready to go for some weeks. I had her ready for Narromine but she drew wide there as well.

“We took her out there and gave her a trial at Dubbo during the week.”

Crockett said the weight relief from Panya’s 3kg claim had been invaluable but the input from senior jockey Jay Ford even more so.

“Jay rode her to win at Mudgee and she really turned the corner,” he said.

“She has learned how to win.

“Jay would have been on her but we thought we should use Deanne’s claim on the wet track.”

Crockett had earmarked Moss My Name for a tilt at next year’s rich Country Championship but had had a change of heart.

“That’s over 1400 metres but I think she is better suited to the shorter sprints,” he said.

“There is a Class Three 1200-metre race here in two weeks so I think we will aim for that.”

The Highway races are restricted to horses trained outside the metropolitan and provincial areas of NSW.