The southern invasion … of trainers, jockeys and horses … is something that is, and has been, a commonplace occurrence for a long time with regard to the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival, and that is often where most attention lies.
A raid from the north garners little notice though, often flying pretty much under the radar, as is the case of the Kris Hansen trained Bowdene who runs in the $160 000 Oxlade Stakes at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
The Rockhampton based Hansen, of course, is the trainer who nourished Sheza Alibi in the first four, formative runs of her career, including taken her to a second place finish in the Listed Tatts Stakes behind Autumn Boy, who has since gone on to complete a Group 1 double in the Caulfield and Rosehill Guineas.
Hansen lost Sheza Alibi with the filly moving to the Peter Moody and Ketherine Coleman training partnership where she has excelled to the point that she currently boasts a five race unbeaten sequence with the last two of those coming in Group 1 company in the Randwick Guineas, in which Autumn Boy finished second, and in the $4 million Doncaster Mile.
That is not to suggest that Bowdene might end up being anywhere near that level of ability, but the point is that Hansen showed with his time with Sheza Alibi that he not only knows how to handle a good horse, but he is able to place them well enough to be competitive wherever he finds a suitable opportunity.
He did that with Sheza Alibi in the Tatts Stakes putting her up against the likes of powerhouse stables such as that of Chris Waller, Bjorn Baker, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott and Annabel and Rob Archibald, amongst others, and came away with a strong second place at unwanted odds of $18 with the top betting sites.
Now Hansen has spotted another opportunity with Bowdene in the Oxlade.
The two-year-old son of Barbaric has raced four times … scoring back-to-back wins in his last two starts in a Maiden over 1000m at Townsville and a QTIS Two-Year-Old Handicap over 1050m at MacKay.
Those are hardly results to get the heart racing on face value, but Bowdene did beat the favourite home in both of those races and did so in quite comfortable fashion, scoring by 2.43 lengths and 1,58 lengths.
All you can do is win your races and he is clearly a horse on the up.
Again, the trip to down to Brisbane brings something of an acid test for Bowdene with the opposition including runners from the Maher, Waterhouse and Bott, Snowden and the Freedman heavyweight stables … a factor which has left Bowdene all the way out at $26 in the betting.
Prior to Saturday, the Hansen stable had starts in Brisbane in 2026 … all with Astra Star … most notably claiming a second place with the four-year-old gelding in the $500 000 Magic Millions Country Cup in January when the son on Cosmic Force was only touched off by the narrowest of margins.
So, Hansen is clearly not a man to travel a horse on a whim.
Chris Whitely, who partnered Bowdene to her first win, takes the ride again on Saturday.
