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By Ray Hickson

Jason Collett can confidently say he’ll be riding a better version of Crossbow at Randwick on Saturday compared to the first time he partnered the Chris Waller-trained youngster.

Jockey Jason Collett (Pic: Bradley Photos).

That was back in January when he was one of the also-rans behind the boom colt Wodeton but what it did do was give him some much needed experience.

Collett rode the gelding in his second trial prior to his resumption last month, where he gave Central Coast a small fright, and he said that has him in a good place for the Schweppes Handicap (1400m).

“When he raced against Wodeton he trialled on the Tuesday then raced on the Saturday so it all happened quite fast,’’ Collett said.

“He needed that experience but he’d obviously shown enough to start him in a good race first-up.”

Crossbow, $3.70 with TAB on Friday, settled last in the seven horse field first-up at Canterbury and ran Central Coast to under half a length over the 1250m.

From the inside barrier Collett hopes he can have Crossbow in a much closer spot with a rise in distance in his favour.

“He was good the other day against Central Coast,’’ he said.

“The 1400m will suit, we’ll make some use of the barrier and it looks a nice race for him.”

Collett brought up his 100th NSW winner for 2024/25 with a double at Gosford on Thursday and said all in all he’s rapt with how the season has unfolded with his Doncaster Mile win on Stefi Magnetica the highlight.

He’s in third place, one behind Zac Lloyd, in the jockeys premiership and would like to think he can go into a week’s freshen up in second place then battle for that spot in the final few meetings.

It’s almost a JMac style book of rides for Collett at Randwick, on Friday morning all of his nine rides were either favourite or second favourite with TAB.

He described the last start win by Callistemon as “soft and easy” and said there’s every reason to think she can repeat the dose in the Midway Handicap (1600m).

“It’s a similar set up, she goes up a couple of kilos but the horse is going really well,’’ Collett said.

“You’d think it would give her some confidence, it gave me a lot of confidence as it was the first time I’d sat on her and she was very push button.

“She doesn’t have a great deal of barrier speed but we were able to clear pretty cleanly last start.”

The form around the Jason Coyle-trained Lulumon gained a serious upgrade last weekend when the two horses she ambushed at Randwick three weeks ago, Storm The Raparts and Hi Dubai, both won at Rosehill.

Collett's major concern going into the Agency Real Estate Handicap (1000m) is the type of run she’ll be afforded from an outside gate but said the mare couldn’t be going any better.

“We had a smooth run in the race when I won on her and it was pretty similar when Alysha won on her,’’ he said.

Crossbow runs second at Canterbury on June 18

“When she was up to 1200m at Rosehill she did draw wide and wasn’t able to find the right spot.

“I’m going to need a bit of luck from the barrier, I know there’s only one turn but I’ll still need to be in a good rhythm to run on.”

Collett rides In Summer ($4) in the TAB Highway, while Flame Of Hestia ($4.60), Federer ($3.70), Oh Diamond Lil ($4.60), Getafix ($2.50) and Changing Colours ($4) are all strongly fancied.

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Randwick meeting