KYNETON trainer George Osborne has enjoyed another successful weekend, with a pair of winners and another of his gallopers coming frustratingly close to victory as well.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Osborne backed up his win with four-year-old gelding Mount Horeb at Albury on Saturday by landing a winner at Sunday’s meeting at Bendigo with the four-year-old mare My Divas.
Those victories came on top of a second placing at Moonee Valley on Friday night with the promising mare Swizzle Sticks.
Osborne, who regularly heads across the border to New South Wales with his gallopers, said he had no hesitation in taking Mount Horeb to Albury, where the gelding had won twice previously in his only three starts at the track.
“I go there quite often and he’s won numerous races up there. He won at Kyneton last start and went up in the ratings and this looked the obvious next step for him to continue in the right fashion,” he said.
“We took him up there with another horse (Toolbar) and he finished second.
“He likes going that way (clockwise).
“He may back up again next week at Wagga Wagga, depending on how he comes through the next few days.”
Osborne praised the effort of jockey Beau Mertens in My Divas’ impressive 1300m win at Bendigo on Sunday.
“She will probably step up another grade at a meeting in Seymour in a couple of weeks,” he said.
“That will be another step up the ladder.”
Osborne was content with the progress of recent Mornington winner Swizzle Sticks, who finished a fast finishing second behind the Matthew Ellerton and Simon Zahra trained Freeze Over in the eight heat of the Ladbroke 55 Second Challenge.
“She’s really started to find some form, she won really impressively in a weaker race at Mornington and we then had a look at a stronger race,” he said.
“Maybe swap the barriers (with Freeze Over) and she might have been the winner.
“She’s taken a fair while to mature up but she is really starting to put it together.”
Osborne, who has trained nine winners this season, said he was looking forward to his busiest months of the racing season over the summer, starting at Caulfield on Wednesday with five-year-old sprinter Eastern Pegasus.
“Primarily it’s our busiest and best time of the season after the spring carnival … we have a lot of horses that aren’t really up to the spring carnival, so we work hard to get them ready over summer,” he said.
“The opportunities are pretty good for that calibre of horse over summer.
“We’ll travel anywhere, as long as it’s the right race for the right horse.”