Paul Messara isn’t going to Randwick on Saturday expecting to win the Group One Champagne Stakes with Rowie.
But the emotions will flow if the unexpected happens.
Rowie is a $71 chance in a race dominated by undefeated colt Pierro who is at $1.35 to add the Champagne Stakes to his Golden Slipper and Sires’ Produce Stakes triumphs.
Where Pierro has taken all before him in five runs, Rowie is still on a learning curve.
The colt only made his debut earlier this month, scoring an impressive 1300m win on Randwick’s Kensington track.
Messara stepped him up in grade and distance last Saturday and he was far from disgraced when sixth to Dear Demi on a wet track in the Listed Fernhill Quality (1600m), beaten 1-1/2 lengths.
“It was a good effort. He just got through the ground but I think it took away a bit of his dash,” Messara said.
“Obviously he’s not in the top couple of hopes in the race but I don’t think there’s a lot between the rest of them.
“He’s fit and healthy and well and I don’t see any negative in running him.”
Rowie is a special horse to Messara.
He is named after one of the family’s good friends, Andrew Rowe, who died suddenly last year after suffering a heart attack.
He was in his mid-thirties and left behind four children.
“He loved his racing,” Messara said of Rowe.
“His father actually owns a share in this horse and we decided when he passed away we were going to name a horse after him and this is the horse we named after him.
“His name was Andrew Rowe and he was known to everyone as Rowie.”
Messara has ridden racing’s highs and lows in the past few weeks.
He celebrated one of his biggest moments in the sport when Ortensia won the Group One Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai late last month.
She has since travelled on to England where she will be prepared for the Royal Ascot carnival in June.
Last Saturday Messara was dealt a blow when Mic Mac fractured a leg during the running of the Galaxy in which he was sixth.
He had been on the comeback trail after more than a year off and connections had been plotting an assault on the Brisbane winter carnival.
“That’s where we were heading and I think he would have been able to knock off a major up there,” Messara said.
“We’ve put three screws in his fetlock and fingers crossed he’ll be back racing in about nine months.”
Rowie will be one of two runners for Messara at Randwick along with Rekindled Alliance in the Group Three Frank Packer Plate (2000m).
