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By Greg Prichard

The new owners of Hosier have enjoyed a great ride already, but it will take them to a whole new level if the Newcastle-trained seven-year-old can win the $2 million Petaluma Hill Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday.

Trainer Mark Minervini (Pic: Bradley Photos)

Trainer Mark Minervini, who is also one of Hosier’s owners, admitted victory in such a rich feature race would be a lot to take in when he said: “They’ll have to carry me out on a stretcher, I think, if we happen to win a race like that. The prizemoney down there in Sydney is unbelievable.”

Hosier became available for sale midway through this year and Minervini backed his judgement and bought the gelding, which had formerly been trained at Newcastle by Kris Lees.

“Lloyd Williams put him on the online auctions at Inglis,” Minervini said.

“I sent an email out to my owners before the sale and there was plenty of interest straight away. Whatever the sale price was going to be we pretty much had it covered before we bought him.

“We got him for $100,000. There’s quite a few owners - about 18 or 20, including me. You’re basically gambling on at least getting your money back and maybe more and he’s been a really good buy.

“It doesn’t always work out that way, so I’m always really happy for the owners when we get a good result. We’ve already got our money back and the rest is entertainment. The owners are having a ball, they’re really enjoying the ride they’re on

“You can spend $100,000 on a horse at the yearling sales and not even know if it can gallop, but Hosier was obviously a tried horse that had done well. It was a matter of whether he could still win races and I thought it was worth a shot.”

Hosier has had six starts for his new owners, for one win and two placings. His win came in the $250,000 Premier’s Cup at Randwick on August 19, which carried first prizemoney of $140,000. His total prizemoney haul since the buy stands at just over $200,000.

Despite being seven, Hosier has not been over-taxed in his racing career, which was part of the attraction for Minervini when he was considering buying him.

He had his first two starts in Ireland before being imported here. He was trained by Robert Hickmott in Victoria, then Lees and now Minervini and has still only raced 19 times, for eight wins and four placings.

Hosier has a phenomenal record on wet tracks, having had nine starts in soft going for seven wins and one placing and one run on a heavy track for a win.

After some midweek rain, Rosehill was rated a Soft 6 on Thursday. It had improved to a Soft 5 on Friday and Minervini is hoping there is still a bit of give in the ground by race-time.

“I’d love another shower or two,” he said. “I’m hoping it at least doesn’t get better than a five and that the sting is out of the ground.

“I can’t see him running poorly no matter what the conditions are. He looks outstanding to my eyes and he’s had a good week on the track. But if it stays in the soft range he has a fantastic record in those conditions, so you’re always hoping for that.”

Hosier was originally going to run in the $750,000 The Metropolitan over 2400 metres at Randwick last Saturday, but Minervini scratched him after drawing a wide barrier.

Hosier wins the Premier's Cup

But the trainer is now thinking that having to wait before taking on the Hill Stakes instead may have been a blessing in disguise for the horse, which is rated a $15 chance with TAB Fixed Odds and will be ridden by in-form jockey Rachel King.

“I think it has turned out to be the better option,” he said. “We’ll never know for sure how he would’ve gone in The Metrop, but I’m happy to be going around in this race. It’s worth nearly three times as much.

“His wins have been over distances up to 2000 metres, so the 1900 is going to suit him.

"He’s got a good draw this time as well (barrier eight) and I think being an older gelding he’ll gel with a female jockey. Rachel is able to get horses to run for her.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday's Rosehill meeting