Trainer Scott Spackman is confident Wagga mare O’ So Hazy is ready to run the race of her life in Saturday’s $1.3 million The Kosciuszko (1200m).
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O’ So Hazy drew ‘perfectly’ in barrier six for Saturday’s inaugural feature for country-trained sprinters at Royal Randwick.
O’ So Hazy has returned this preparation with two average performances but Spackman is confident the mare is back at her best ahead of her trip to Sydney.
“Without a doubt. Like everyone else, I was concerned with her last run at Warwick Farm but she was a victim of circumstances that day,” Spackman said.
“The jockey was in two minds what to do, I’m not blaming him, it was just one of those things.
“She’s bouncing out of her skin at the moment. She’s just spot on, dead set spot on."
Spackman believes barrier six will be perfect for young Southern District jockey Brooke Sweeney.
“It’s awesome. It gives us so many options,” he said.
“We’ll be able to find out by race five what the track is doing. There’s speed outside us, I can’t see a lot of speed inside us so if we want to go and put ourselves in a spot we can.
“I think we’ll be running third or fourth. That’s the ideal situation. If there’s no speed on and we’re in front, that’s fine. I’ve got no problems with the mare leading, as long as it’s under her own steam and she’s not being pushed out too hard.”
First prize for Saturday’s event is $685,000. The owners, Neville Murdoch and Noel Penfold, will take 55 per cent of that under a deal negotiated with slot holder Eamon Gormley.
It will be the biggest moment of Spackman’s training career and he cannot wait.
“It’s hard to explain what this is all about. It’s so big for racing itself, for the SDRA, for the MTC, for everyone,” he said.
“I know it is for me but it’s not just about me, it’s for everybody. You’ve just got to run with it, get behind it and embrace it. We’re going to go there and give it to them. We’re going to do our best.
“I’m not going there thinking I will win it but give me strength if I do. They reckon Chris Waller can cry.”
Spackman believes the wet conditions in Sydney should not trouble O’ So Hazy.
“I’m under the impression she’ll get through it,” he said.
“I know she’s had the one failure at Gundagai but she was a victim of circumstances that day.
“She hasn’t given me any indication she can’t get through it and her work on rain-affected going has always been good.”
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