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By Ray Hickson

It might only be half a kilogram but when apprentice Ben Osmond lowers his riding weight to partner a horse like Glory Daze at Kensington on Wednesday it’s worth noting.

Osmond, who stands at 180cm, was prepared to get down to 53.5kg to ride the gelding in the Precise Air Premier’s Cup Prelude (1800m) on Saturday and it speaks volumes of his opinion of his chances that he’s doing it again for the rescheduled running.

He said going below his usual 54kg is not an easy job but when the Ciaron Maher stable requested it he had little hesitation.

“They asked me if I could make it and said that it would help,’’ Osmond said.

“I did it a month or so ago for one of Chris Waller’s and he’s definitely a horse worth doing it for.

“I was kind of hoping they’d run on Saturday but the track should still be in the heavy range so he should get every chance.”

Glory Daze, $6.50 with TAB on Tuesday, won on a heavy track at Randwick back in May under Osmond’s handling and has subsequently run third in both the Lord Mayors Cup, on heavy ground, and the McKell Cup back onto a good track.

Glory Daze runs third at Rosehill on June 28

While Osmond didn’t ride the seven-year-old in the latter race, Ashley Morgan was on board, he said how he performed on top of the ground was a sign of how well he’s going of late.

“He was good last start. I was following him in the run and he actually showed a good turn of foot on the drier track,’’ he said.

“He’s had that nice freshen up, they backed him up a few starts ago, so he should be prime and ready to go.

“He’s probably fitter than half the horses, there’s a few that are first-up, so he should go well.”

His last three starts have been at 2000m but Osmond said he doesn’t see an issue with coming back that 200m, especially on a wet track, and just hopes he can ride him to his strengths.

“You want to be building into it before most of the field is,’’ he said.

“He’s a really big horse and needs that galloping room early. It looks to set up well.”

There’s a sense from Osmond that stablemate Negotiations is getting closer to a long awaited breakthrough in the PKF Sydney Handicap (1000m) having partnered the sprinter at his past two starts.

It’s been 18 months since his last win, at Kembla in February 2024, and Osmond said while he has run on well into fourths in those two starts he does need a genuine tempo.

“At least he’s starting to turn his form around a bit, he’s running a bit more consistently now which is good,’’ he said.

“He needs a really fast run race because he’s best ridden dragging him back. If they’re stopping he’ll try and get past them.”

All the fields, form and replays for Wednesday’s Kensington meeting