Just as fitting is that Move To Strike is a Te Akau horse, co-trained by Mark Walker, two of the biggest influences on Bosson’s racing career.
Bosson has needed the help of Walker, Te Akau boss David Ellis and his own wife Emily in recent years, as it wasn’t that long ago, Bosson sat in the Trentham jockeys’ room, spent and ready for retirement.
The constant yo-yoing of wasting to ride around 55kg had drained him of his enthusiasm for the industry and it was only through good people and a desire to not waste a unique talent that Bosson fought his way back.
“This is very satisfying after what has been some tough times,” Bosson said.
“I’m lucky to have some good people helping me, and at the moment, things are great, with horses like Imperatriz, plenty of other good ones, and even juveniles like this horse coming though.”
The other seven jockeys to reach 2000 domestic winners are Chris Johnson (the leader on 2515), David Walsh, Lance O’Sullivan, Noel Harris, Bill Skelton, Michael Coleman and David Peake.
Bosson wasn’t done for the day, as he was aggressive on Campionessa in a race-winning move to capture the richest event yesterday, the $175,000 Cal Isuzu Stakes.
The high-class mare jumped to straight outside the leader, took the one-one and never looked like being beaten in a win that sets her up beautifully for the Group 1 Cambridge Stud Zabeel Classic at Pukekohe on Boxing Day.
Saturday’s other main event also had a fitting feeling to it, as Dionysus won the $140,000 SkyCity Waikato Cup. He is trained by Roger James and Robert Wellwood, who just a few days ago had to retire their stable star Prowess because of hoof issues.
She will head to stud but Dionysus can head to any of the major Cups that James and Wellwood want, as he is stayer with range, albeit he had to work hard to claw his way past Prise De Fer courtesy of an inch-perfect Warren Kennedy ride.
One of the upsets of the day came via Zecora in the $120,000 J Swap Sprint for trainers Robyn and Russell Rogers, who produced a gem of a training performance to secure their mare Group 3 black type in only her second start since this time last year.
The mare stormed home in the hands of Lynsey Satherley after the leaders went hard and set up a fast 1m 21.5s for the 1400m, Zecora just nosing out Tevere.
The other shock to punters came when Pendragon led throughout to down favourites Quintessa and Tokyo Tycoon in a race that will change the markets for some big 3-year-old races of the summer.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
