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By Ray Hickson

It’s fair to say Iresign probably won’t reach the heights of his Golden Slipper winning half-sister Mossfun but trainer Lee Curtis is confident he can emulate her by kicking off his career with a win at Gosford on Thursday.

The three-year-old is making a low-key debut in the Klingspor Handicap (1100m) at Gosford on the back of two trials that impressed both trial watchers and Curtis himself.

“He’s a nice horse and there seems to be a bit of quality about him,’’ Curtis said.

“I’ve had him in a few times, we just decided to give him time. I think he improved from the first to the second trial.

“He’s a real no-nonsense guy, he has a lot of confidence in himself and he has a lovely constitution.’’

Iresign, by All Too Hard, led most of the way to win a 1030m trial at Rosehill on March 26 and Curtis has been impressed with how strong the gelding has been in both his hitouts.

He’s been pressing for favouritism with TAB at $3.20 and Curtis expects him to either lead or be right on the speed for his debut.

Iresign wins a Rosehill trial on March 26

“He’ll go forward, I wouldn’t be surprised if he led but it’s not necessarily our intention to lead,’’ he said.

“Gosford should suit him.’’

Mossfun was retired four years ago after racing on Day 1 of The Championships and she left racing with four wins from nine starts – all feature race wins.

Curtis is adamant the best is ahead of Iresign but says he won’t be throwing him in deeper waters any time soon.

“If he wins impressively, and there’s a fair chance he could, we’ll just take him through the grades,’’ he said.

“I’d probably look for a Class 1 but there’s no need to rush him, he might even go out for a spell.’’

Meanwhile, Curtis expects to have a bit of ammunition for the spring in the shape of promising youngster Giselle Anne and dual Group 3 winner Meryl.

Giselle Anne is heading for a break after tailing the field in the Magic Night Stakes last month while Meryl was forced to miss the autumn with a hock injury.

“Giselle Anne did quite well, she ran third in a city race and fourth in a Group 3. She’s not a big filly and she will be better next prep,’’ he said.

“Meryl just needs to have three months off so we’ll bring her back for the spring. I don’t think we have seen the best of her yet.’’

All the fields, form and replays for Thursday’s Gosford meeting