Racing: Bosson looks to update CV

Fritzy Boy (yellow and black colours) has a great record on wet tracks and over 1200m. He looks a safe each-way bet for the Foxbridge Plate.Picture / APN

There are few New Zealand feature races Opie Bosson hasn't won.

Tomorrow's $70,000 Waikato Stud Foxbridge Plate is one of them.

It would be appropriate if that changed in Bosson's first big race ride since returning permanently from eight months riding in Singapore.

Bosson won the Diamond Stakes at Ellerslie on Warhorse on a fleeting trip back from Singapore, but recently decided to come home semi-permanently.

Bosson rode 18 winners in his time in Singapore, but for the majority of that time was restricted to riding horses from the barns of Bruce Marsh and Mark Walker.

"I got a bit homesick and I wanted to be back home to ride for the start of spring," said Bosson yesterday.

There is hardly a spring feel in the air at the moment in Auckland or the Waikato, but the field assembled for tomorrow's big race ushers in the first avalanche of topline horses.

It's certainly different from what we have been seeing lately.

Bosson rides million-dollar earner Shez Sinsational, who resumes following a break after the Queensland winter carnival.

For a mare who won the 3200m Stella Artois Auckland Cup, tomorrow's 1200m would seem too short, but Shez Sinsational is hugely versatile.

The only previous time she has tackled 1200m was in her winning debut in December 2010.

The way the track is likely to play tomorrow, with further showers predicted, it will be more like 1400m than 1200m.

This is a race where question marks sit over the fitness of all four leading runners: Shez Sinsational, Fritzy Boy, Fleur de Lune and Xanadu.

That makes it a very tricky race for punters.

In Shez Sinsational's favour is that she has a precocious ability to sprint at various stages of her races and that could take her close tomorrow.

Last year's winner Fritzy Boy hasn't raced since mid-October, but he has a remarkable record when fresh.

When resuming after breaks from racing for three months or more he has won three of his four starts and was placed in the other.

The heavy track will be an advantage and he has the power of Jonathan Riddell on his back.

There is no doubt Fleur de Lune and Xanadu will improve with their first races since the autumn, but both are capable of putting pressure on this field.

Fleur de Lune finished second in this race behind Fritzy Boy last year and although trainer Lee Somervell believes the talented mare is slightly less fit than 12 months ago, there was plenty to like about the way she was moving at the finish of her gallop between races at Te Aroha last Friday.

Similarly, Xanadu impressed in her solo gallop at Te Aroha.

In only seven raceday appearances, Xanadu showed rare talent as a 3-year-old last season and looks a much stronger type now.

She should be in for a good season.