Fresh from landing the Sydney jockeys’ premiership, Hugh Bowman has added the Darwin Cup to his trophy cabinet.
Bowman guided the Gary Clarke trained Lightinthenite to an easy win in the $200,000 race over 2000m on Monday.
Sent out the $3 favourite, Lightinthenite scored a nine-length victory over Royal Request ($6) with Pretty Blonde ($21) a half-length away third.
Bowman gave Lightinthenite the run of the race behind leaders Storm Approach and Kayno before easing over their heels with 600m to run.
Bowman shot the favourite to the lead on turning for home where he quickly put the race away and was able to coast home over the final 100m.
A son of Galileo, Lightinthenite was formerly trained by John O’Shea before heading to Clarke’s stable and ran second to Pretty Blonde in last year’s Cup.
Lightinthenite had a stint at Warrnambool with Jarrod McLean last year before returning to Clarke where he was successful first-up in the main Darwin Cup lead-up, the Chief Minister’s Cup (1600m) on July 11.
It was a successful sojourn north for Bowman who won a race at Saturday’s meeting and rode a double after Action Again scored earlier on Monday’s Cup program.
Bowman had previously ridden in Darwin and was lured north by part-owner Mick Burns for the ride on Lightinthenite.
