Callsign Mav now has some stiff competition for Jamie Mott’s favourite horse of the spring, but he gets the chance to cement his position at Cranbourne this Saturday.
The ex-Kiwi gelding will be reunited with Mott in the $500,000 Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m), seven days after the popular jockey logged his second elite-level success aboard Roch ‘N’ Horse in the $3 million Champions Sprint at Flemington.
Mott concedes the Danny O’Brien-trained six-year-old has been disappointing since they combined to win the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes, which was his first Group 1 win as a rider, but a slight gear alteration have him optimistic of a turnaround.
“He’s been ordinary in his two runs since, but they’ve had a little issue with his breathing,” Mott said of a Toorak Handicap 14th and Crystal Mile fifth placing.
“They tried the crossover (noseband) last start and he was still the same as the start before, but they’ve gone for the tongue tie crossover, which I worked him in on Tuesday, and he was perfect.
“I was really happy with his work and if he can run up to somewhere near his best he’s going to be awfully hard to beat.”
Callsign Mav is the 61kg topweight and will carry at least 2kg more than all other runners, but Mott said that is a winnable weight if the gear change does its job.
The son of Atlante joined Behemoth, Jungle Cat and Testa Rossa as the only horses to carry at least 57.5kg to Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes victory when he won under that weight last month.
“I’m not worried about the 61 at all,” Mott said
“This is definitely a peg back from what his last few runs have been in, so I’m just banking on the tongue tie and crossover together helping him breath properly.”
Callsign Mav is one of four rides for Mott on Cranbourne Cup Day with Port Philip, another he has enjoyed good success aboard this spring, among the others.
Weight have prevented Mott from riding the Julius Sandhu-trained gelding at his past two starts, which were a win at Caulfield and a narrow second placing to subsequent Melbourne Cup placegetter High Emocean in the Bendigo Cup, but he was aboard for a hat-trick of wins prior to that.
They all came on Heavy tracks, but Mott said the feeling Port Philip gave at trackwork on Tuesday morning indicated he would be even more suited on a firmer surface.
“I worked him Tuesday as well and he doesn’t feel like he’s at the end of prep at all,” Mott said.
“He’s bouncing, he worked terrific, it was probably a Good 4 and he was very sharp. Julius has always said he’s going to be better on top of the ground and I probably agree with him.”
Mott’s other rides are Zousuko for John Mcardle in the $150,000 2YO Plate that kicks off the card and Megamea for Luke Oliver and popular owner Udyta Clarke in the $175,000 Fillies & Mares Pendant (1400m).