Muswellbrook preview: X marks the spot for Cross

Wyong trainer Mark Cross heads to Muswellbook on Monday with last start winner Hoo Haa together with the under-rated three-year-old Search Warrant

Hoo Haa’s sire Denman winning the Golden Rose.

Two of Wyong trainer Mark Cross’ stable of five gallopers will partner up for a road trip to Muswellbrook on Monday, with one of them aiming to go back-to-back after having been winless for her first 20 starts.

Her name is Hoo Haa who was finally able to get off the mark when posting a narrow yet brave win at Newcastle on January 21 with Saturday’s Rosehill Gardens star jockey Anna Roper in the saddle.

“I was told prior to the race that I couldn’t win, I always like that,’’ Cross quipped.

“I said to Anna Roper, if you just be patient with her, a couple of riders have jumped on her and hammered her and she has tired late.

“So I said, just sit off the speed, I am telling you now, she will finish on.”

Jockey Anna Roper. Picture: Jeremy Ng - Getty Images

While Hoo Haa’s tally of wins presently stands at one, her sire and dam were incredibly prolific types.

Denman won nine of his 12 starts while Hoo Haa’s dam, Straadance, won 11 of her 60 outings. Five of the wins coming under Cross’ management.

Interestingly, four of Straadance’s Cross-driven wins were on the provincial circuit while the other was in the race which preceded the 2016 Bong Bong Cup claimed, that year, by Dato Tan Chin Nam and James Cummings.

“I laugh about the bagging you get that she had 21 starts before she won but she has placed at the provincials two or three times and she has been beaten by some good horses,’’ Cross told The Daily Telegraph.

“It’s just a matter of placing her right and just being patient.”

Hoo Haa’s float companion from the Coast to the Coalfields on Monday is the Senga Bisset, Ivan Woodford-Smith bred three-year-old Search Warrant who lines-up in the Magic Millions Maiden Handicap over 1500m.

The son of Magic Millions (and Golden Slipper winner) Capitalist only managed to beat one other to the line at home at Wyong last start but was always going to be better ‘after the race’ than before.

“Search Warrant was coming back from a brief let-up and we couldn’t find a 1400m for him so I figured a 1350m at home was probably good for him,’’ Cross explained.

“It gave him a bit of a hit-out and now I look for the extra distance on a bigger track.

“He was good prior but I thought I made a mistake of having three or four runs over the mile close together and I paid the penalty so I just put him in the paddock and let him freshen-up.”.

Search Warrant has shown every indication that he will more than likely be able to stretch himself out in trip when required.

That is despite the fact that he is a product of two speed-horses.

His dam, Mahlia, won once in eight career starts.

That win was on Champagne Stakes day in 2018, 400km north-west of Royal Randwick at the annual Tomingley Picnics in an 800m Maiden which she won by six lengths in 44.46 seconds.

“He is a three-year-old and this is only his second prep and I don’t want to butcher him,’’ says Cross.

“He will probably run 2000m or further next prep.’’

Cross’s small Central Coast string was recently raised by one after he acquired the former Ciaron Maher trained Capitol Queen for $5,000 online.

A third generation of Dave O’Sullivan’s NZ Oaks, Auckland Cup and STC The BMW winner Miltak, was an easy and impressive Heat winner at the most recent set of Wyong trials.

Originally published as Muswellbrook preview: X marks the spot for Cross