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By Ray Hickson

Height might ultimately be apprentice Ben Osmond’s biggest enemy but it’s not stopping him from making an impact in Sydney this winter.

Ben Osmond (Pic: Bradley Photos)

The 25-year-old, indentured to Kris Lees, notched his first city win in the first few weeks of the season but in the past month he’s forged a successful partnership with Chris Waller who has provided him with three more.

It’s no coincidence that Waller has elected to use Osmond’s 3kg claim, and to great effect on Kazou, Unstoppabull, and Robusto in recent weeks, but a reward for making the effort to ride trackwork.

He’s hoping to extend that winning run with the Waller camp on Etna Rosso in the ATC Thank You Owners Handicap (1800m) at Randwick on Saturday and pilot his first city winner for his boss on Bubba’s Bay in the Kia Ora Prague (1100m).

“I have the same manager as Lee Magorrian and he rides a bit of work for Chris, he said I should start popping my head down once a week for trackwork,’’ Osmond said.

“I’ve been doing that on Wednesdays and getting some rides out of it. It’s really professional in everything they do.

“You want to keep working away at your city claim while you’ve still got it.”

Osmond grew up in Dungog, north of Newcastle, riding stock horses and didn’t really see a thoroughbred jockey as a career option.

Around six years ago he started working at Kris Lees’ pre-training farm, where he rode his first thoroughbred, and progressed to spending time with the master Ron Quinton before starting his apprenticeship with Todd Howlett.

It was for Howlett that he rode his first winner, at Gulgong in 2021. His rise has been gradual but with his apprenticeship due to end in May next year he's keen to make the most of it.

At 180cm, Osmond knows how important it is he keeps his weight in check and he says so far that’s not been a major issue as he rides comfortably enough at 55kg.

“There’s some that probably do it tougher than me, I was always naturally skinny as a kid,’’ Osmond said.

“You’ve got to watch what you eat and keep on top of it.

"If you let it blow out, or it’s fluctuating a lot, it makes things tough but when you keep it consistent it’s pretty good.”

A common theme in Osmond’s three winners for the Waller stable is that, as far as he’s aware, he’s not ridden any of them at trackwork so won’t have any prior knowledge of Etna Rosso.

The import is in his second preparation for Waller, and his first as a gelding, he won at Warwick Farm in March and Osmond said he’ll be guided, as he has been with the other mounts, by what the champion trainer tells him but can see a good case to run well fresh.

“He’s a last start winner, he did carry 61kg that day so will drop in weight,’’ he said.

“He has a softish draw, Chris will probably want it ridden conservatively, and it looks a decent chance.”

Ben Osmond debriefs with Chris Waller and connections after Robusto's win at Rosehill. (Pic: Bradley Photos)

Osmond is much more familiar with the Lees-trained Bubba’s Bay, $6 with TAB on Friday, having ridden her once in a race and in her most recent trial.

The four-year-old has a strong winning record enhanced by a hat-trick in Brisbane in the early autumn and Osmond said he’s learned from those couple of experiences so hopes she can return in the same vein of form.

“She’s real quick, I rode her last prep at Canterbury and she ran third and I might have overdone it a bit leading on her that day,’’ he said.

“She’s drawn wide-ish but there’s a little bit of speed and if we can sit outside the leader I’d be happy with that.

“She tries hard each start. It is Queensland form when she strung those last three wins together so she’ll have to bring that form down here.”

Bubba’s Bay opened her last preparation with a close fourth in a Benchmark 78 at Randwick and Osmond said all indications from her latest trial suggest she’s ready for her first-up assignment.

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