My Mate Mozzie set to head straight to Irish Cesarewitch after Galway Hurdle third

Gavin Cromwell is eyeing up the €600,000 Irish Cesarewitch with My Mate Mozzie, who was beaten a length into third by Zarak The Brave in the Galway Hurdle this month.

The seven-year-old has mixed it up between the Flat and jumps throughout his career and bolted up by eight and a half lengths in a 1m4f Tramore maiden when last seen on the Flat last month. That was his first success in that sphere but he has some strong form in valuable big-field handicaps.

He finished fourth in the Petingo Handicap at Leopardstown last September and was touched off by a neck in the November Handicap at Naas two months later off a mark of 87. He is now rated 92 and will tackle the 2m½f trip at the Curragh on September 24 should all go to plan.

Cromwell said: "My Mate Mozzie will head straight to the Cesarewitch, that’s the plan. He ran very well in the Galway Hurdle. I thought jumping the last we had a chance but he was just outbattled in the last 20 yards. 

"It was a big run. It was probably a Grade 1 horse that beat him. He deserves to win a big one as he’s been banging on the door."

Cromwell is set to saddle Earls in this weekend's Irish Cambridgeshire at the Curragh after the six-year-old finished fourth in the Ahonoora Handicap at Galway.

"Earls is a likely runner in the Cambridgeshire. We’d love to get a bit of soft ground for him and the way the weather is, that could happen," he said.

The trainer also gave an update on his Royal Ascot winner Snellen, who trailed in last of eight in the Group 2 Debutante Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday.

He said: "Snellen is okay. She got very upset in the preliminaries, which isn't like her. She was so professional at Ascot. For whatever reason, she got very wound up on Saturday and didn’t really want to go to the start. We haven’t put our finger on it yet but there was clearly something there."

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