Australia: Mr Moppett faces older as he seeks second straight win

Mr Moppett has had a fine start to his career racing at the smaller venues in New South Wales, Australia.

A winner of 2 of 4 starts, Mr Moppett has won at Orange and Corowa racecourses this year and will be favored to win a handicap at 5 3/4 furlongs at Leeton Racecourse on Monday. Perhaps there will be a day when the 3-year-old gelding starts at the metropolitan tracks around Sydney, but Leeton Racecourse is a short van ride from trainer Phil Sweeney’s base in the small town of Jerilderie in the Australian countryside.

Mr Moppett won his last start, a five-furlong handicap at Corowa on Sept. 15 that was his first outing since a third-place finish in a six-furlong handicap for 2-year-olds at Wagga Wagga on April 30.

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Even though Mr Moppett is a young 3-year-old on the Southern Hemisphere breeding calendar, he faced older horses at Corowa and will do so at Leeton.

On Monday, Mr Moppett is the lone 3-year-old in a field of nine and will carry joint topweight of 127.8 pounds with Tocatchacod. Mr Moppett could be the topweight since Tocatchacod is also entered in another race at Leeton on Monday.

Aleda was assigned topweight of 132 pounds, but the presence of apprentice jockey Georgina McDonnell reduces the assignment to 125.6 pounds. Aleda, a 4-year-old Australian-bred filly, won a handicap at seven furlongs on the synthetic track at Ballarat on June 23 against a weaker field.

Mr Moppett tends to race as a stalker and could be in pursuit of likely pacesetter Attuned, who is winless in three starts since a maiden race at Leeton on July 27. Attuned set the pace in a handicap at about 6 1/2 furlongs at Orange Racecourse on Sept. 21, but faded to finish a length behind race winner Hidden Ace.

Leeton has a seven-race program that begins at 11:55 p.m. Eastern, or 8:55 p.m. Pacific, on Sunday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.