Racing: Pateman confident with choice of mount in feature

Steven Pateman rides Mazzacano, which he rates the best horse he has ridden, in the Grand Annual Steeplechase at Warrnambool today against the second-best horse he has ridden, Some Are Bent.

Pateman, 26, rode the Robert Smerdon-trained Some Are Bent for the first time on Tuesday when he carried 71kg to win the Brierly Steeple (3450m) but is happy to stay with Mazzacano in the 5500m marathon.

"Mazzacano in my opinion is the better horse," Pateman said.

"That's just my opinion but Some Are Bent won't be easy to beat as he doesn't get penalised for winning the Brierly, but I still wouldn't swap Mazzacano for any others."

The Robbie Laing-trained Mazzacano carried 70kg, as did Some Are Bent, when he defeated Smerdon's charge by 2 lengths in a 3300m Sandown Steeple last month.

The winner of eight of his 10 jumps races including two Australian Steeples and a Crisp Steeple, Mazzacano meets Some Are Bent, the topweight with 70kg, a kilogram better on Thursday as he drops to 69kg.

Pateman said he didn't realise what a champion Mazzacano was until he won on him at Sandown.

"He was going up the hill at Sandown [and I was] thinking he wasn't travelling so I slapped him on the neck and I never felt a horse just change. He felt like he was on clouds going over the second last and the last."

Brad McLean was cleared to ride Some Are Bent in the Annual after a urine sample taken from him on Tuesday morning tested negative.

Lady Avacan will attempt to emulate the likes of Puramaka and Samosiera in the Warrnambool Cup, the feature flat event.

Prepared at Naracoorte by Sue Jaensch, she will be out to complete the Hamilton Cup (2200m)-Warrnambool Cup (2350m) double.

Puramaka landed the double twice, in 1977/78, and went on to win four Hamilton Cups by also winning that race in 1979/80. The Robert Smerdon-trained Samosiera completed the double in 2001.

Jockey Brad Rawiller has ridden Lady Avacan at her past two starts for an unlucky seventh to Bourbonstreetblues in the Stawell Cup (2000m) when disappointed for a run and in her Hamilton Cup victory under 58kg.

The Caulfield Cup-winning jockey believes the 5-year-old can win again.

"She's a great chance, she's in great form. It was really heavy at Hamilton and she handled it well, she's drawn well [in barrier five] and on the last day there's probably a good chance you'll need to get off [the rail]," Rawiller said.

Cup rival Kibbutz hasn't been successful since winning the Victoria Derby (2500m) 2 years ago.

Local trainer Jarrod McLean is confident he will run well after his fourth over 2000m when second-up at Flemington on Anzac Day.

- AAP