Mosse records Famous victory after riding seven-year-old to the front
There may have been many fans who doubted the ability of Being Famous to run a strong 1,800 metres but jockey Gerald Mosse was never among them.
So when the pace in the initial 200 metres of the Daisy Handicap (race six) looked more pedestrian than pursuit, the French champion had no hesitation in reversing his instructions and taking the seven-year-old straight to the front - a decision to dictate, instead of being dictated to.
And although trainer Almond Lee Yee-tat was the first to admit to being 'very surprised', no one had alerted Being Famous to his apparent deficiencies and the veteran kept on strongly in the final stages to defeat another consistent customer, Dashing Thunder, by a neck.
'One of the great things about riding for Almond is that he respects my role as a jockey and he will never complain if I make a decision like this,' Mosse said. 'My horse had a very easy run at the front of the field and I knew that if he relaxed this way, running 1,800 metres would be no problem.'
The only remaining question, according to Mosse, was deciding when he should turn up the wick and allow Being Famous to lengthen as he chased down his second win of the season.
'I wanted to increase the tempo before the turn, before the other horses were woken up to come after me,' he added. 'But I was always confident he would give me a good response, he was travelling too well not to find something extra.'
Mosse later made it two for the afternoon, for himself and Lee, when Super Charge completed an 802-1 stable double in nailing the eighth event by a neck over Pachinko (Douglas Whyte).
'This was one of those races where everything worked out very nicely for me,' Mosse said. 'Although he drew barrier 13, he crossed over and ended up with a very good run. He deserved this win - he'd won first-up in September and has not had a lot of luck since.'
Luck was the operative word, said Lee, because each of the races had panned out beautifully for his outsiders.
'Super Charged drew barrier 13 but got across and received a lovely run,' Lee said. 'But then, you look at my horse in the last race [Full of Joy], he draws a better barrier [11] but has no luck, posted three wide without any cover.
'That is the difference that a little luck can make - the horse with the luck wins his race, the horse without the luck misses a place.'
