KYNETON trainer Mick Sell is hoping a long-odds win by Mobamba on their home track on Monday is the confidence booster he has craved with the three-year-old.
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The Stryker-Mo'shelley gelding looked a different horse from his first four starts, charging home to win a keenly contested 1100m maiden by .2 of a length at odds of $67.
It was part validation of Mick and Mel Sell's big opinion of the horse, which inspired them to run him in the $250,000 VOBIS Gold Rush (1000m) in his debut on Golden Mile race day at Bendigo in March this year.
"It's been no secret, we've had a big opinion of this horse right from day one, but his brain just wasn't in the right space," Mel Sell said post-race on Racing.com.
"He's so immature and he's probably another season away at least.
"He's been one (horse) who has always shown us in his trials and his work at home that he had above-average ability, but we just couldn't get his brain to work with his body and so forth.
"Give Mick hs credit and (jockey) Craig Robertson, we call him a couple of times a week and we discuss things back and forth.
"We thought the application of the ear muffs would make a huge difference to him, as he just gets himself too hot. And the biggest thing was to chase.
"Two starts ago he actually ran a really good race here (at Kyneton) and he was chasing home hard and he just ran out of room.
"When he gets in front, he thinks the whole world is going to be after him.
"We thought, in consultation with Robbo, we might ride him a little more conservatively and give him something to chase and let him go through his gears, instead of trying to run from his top gear from start to finish."
Another key for Mobamba was the good 4 surface at Kyneton, with each of his four previous runs all being on soft ground.
Robertson, who was having his second ride on the three-year-old, is also convinced of his ability, albeit cautiously.
"He's mentally quite backward, so he's quite a handful to do anything with and he didn't want to make it easy today (Monday) during the run," he said.
"He just got lost when he went to the front.
"After a break, if he can mature a bit he'll win his couple of races."
Robertson added it was difficult to predict how far in distance Mobamba would eventually get.
"It's all up to him, even in this race he was wanting to overdo it pretty badly," he said.
The win was the Sell stable's second this season following a victory with Hugo Loves Vegas at Swan Hill on November 21.
They were unlucky not to add another on Monday with the four-year-old mare Boho Miss having to settle for second place in the following race behind the impressive George Osborne-trained debutant Kyokushin.
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