Hugh Bowman extended his lead in the Sydney jockeys’ premiership as his rich vein of form continued with a winning treble at Warwick Farm on Saturday.
Victory aboard Golden Slipper prospect Raceway in the opening event was followed by successes on Dystopia and Rolling Pin which took Bowman five wins clear at the head of the Sydney standings.
Bowman, who claimed his only Sydney jockeys’ title in the 2008/09 season, has been racking up the winners recently with 11 victories in town since the start of Villiers Stakes day on December 17 when he bagged four wins including a feature double.
His treble on Saturday added to a double at Warwick Farm on Monday.
“I’m just doing what I do. Obviously winners create momentum and there’s no doubt you get confidence from that,” Bowman said.
“But I’ve been around long enough to know you’re only a week away from a run of outs, so you’ve just got to keep chipping away.”
Bowman couldn’t have been more impressed with the debut of Raceway who stamped himself as a Golden Slipper prospect with a commanding four-length win the Warwick Farm 100 Club Plate (1000m).
“He’s the nicest two-year-old I’ve ridden for quite some time,” Bowman said.
“I had nothing to do with the horse before today but with a bit of luck I might have a bit more to do with him.”
Bowman got his tactics spot-on aboard Dystopia in the Schweppes Handicap (1300m), tagging odds-on favourite Tiger Tees early before starting to bridge the gap to free-running leader O’Crikey from the 600m mark.
Dystopia, who formed part of a winning treble for trainer Chris Waller, defeated Tiger Tees by 2-1/2 lengths and two races later Bowman struck again on the Gwenda Markwell-trained Rolling Pin in the James Boag Handicap (1600m).
“Things are going well, I’m getting good opportunities and I was rapt to get back on this horse (Rolling Pin) today because he didn’t get my weight last start and I missed the win because of that,” Bowman said.
“That’s the price you pay being a bit bigger, but it’s helped with the weights going up because it brings me a bit closer to the minimum weight.”
From the start of this year the minimum weight for regulation races was raised from 53kg to 54kg.
“I’m riding at 55 kilos today, that’s a comfortable weight for me, and I’m sure if a good horse comes along I could get to 54,” Bowman said.
“The last few years 53 has just been out of the question.”
AAP TURF
