Boss busy in Singapore

Glen Boss, one of the highest-profile jockeys to take up a Singapore contract in recent times, starts his three-month stint at Kranji tomorrow.

It will be a busy opening night with rides in all nine races, including the G2 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2000m) on Risky Business for last season’s champion trainer, the Victorian Steven Burridge.

Boss, one of the world’s leading G1 jockeys, made a flying visit last November to win the G1 Singapore Gold Cup (2000m) on Risky Business (b/br g 2004, Danehill Dancer (IRE)-Sky Watch, by Star Watch), and he gave racegoers a preview of what to expect whenever he wins a big race, standing high in the irons and waving his whip as he reached the post, for which he was fined $1000.

The Singapore Turf Club races on Fridays and Sundays, and this weekend Boss will back up his first meeting with rides in eight of the 11 races on Sunday.

Overall, the triple Melbourne Cup winner (on Makybe Diva, 2003-05) will ride for six trainers – Australians Brian Dean (six mounts) and Burridge (five), New Zealanders Stephen Gray (two), Bruce Marsh (two) and Laurie Laxon (one), and South African Basil Marcus (one).

Boss doesn’t have a ride in Sunday’s main race, the G1 Lion City Cup (1200m), in which sprint champ Rocket Man (Barend Vorster) will have only five opponents, including the Michael Freedman-trained Better Be The One, to be ridden by another Australian, Danny Beasley.

Better Be The One (b g 4, More Than Ready (USA)-Common Smytzer, by Snippets) raced as Common Interest in Australia. He ran third to J J The Jet Plane in Dubai last month, and is regarded as the only (albeit slight) threat to Rocket Man (b g 5, Viscount-Macrosa (NZ), by McGinty (NZ)) on Sunday.

Rocket Man won the G1 Golden Shaheen (1200m) in Dubai on World Cup night and the Lion City Cup is his lead-in race to the international G1 KrisFlyer (1200m) at Kranji on May 22.

Australian Damien Oliver has been confirmed as the replacement rider for the injured Glyn Schofield on Gitano Hernando in the G1 Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2000m) at Sha Tin in Hong Kong on Sunday.

Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Gerald Mosse, will ride Mr Medici in the QEII Cup – Mosse rode Mr Medici when sixth in the Caulfield Cup in October, but was on Americain when he won the Melbourne Cup and Mr Medici was 10th for Darren Beadman.

Mosse went back to France from Hong Kong only at the beginning of April to resume riding for Americain’s trainer Alain de Royer Dupre, who is the Aga Khan’s retained trainer.

Like Oliver, Mosse flew in to ride in Monday’s Champions Mile – he was fourth on Beauty Flash. ‘Ollie’ was 13th on Able One, and the ride cost him a suspension that will run from Monday until May 19.

So You Think, third to Americain in the Melbourne Cup after four straight G1 wins in the spring, is expected to have his first start in Ireland on Monday (early Tuesday morning Melbourne time).

Coolmore bought a controlling interest in the horse after the Cup, and its trainer Aidan O’Brien has him among five stable entries in the G3 Mooresbridge Stakes (2000m) at The Curragh.

Leading English jockey Ryan Moore and Irishman Seamus Heffernan, a stable rider for O’Brien, have been mentioned as possible riders for So You Think, top weight with 60kg.

Photo: Glen Boss