A smaller field in the Listed Anniversary Vase at Caulfield may be the recipe for Begood Toya Mother finding winning form again.
Daniel Bowman does not want to undo all the hard work that has gone into enabling Begood Toya Mother to settle in his races.
So, the Warrnambool-based horseman will instruct jockey Declan Bates to ride Begood Toya Mother conservatively from an outside barrier in the Listed Anniversary Vase (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
A former noted leader who won the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes more than 18 months ago, Begood Toya Mother has drawn the second widest gate on Saturday.
“We won’t get sucked in to seeing not much speed and going back to our old ways,” Bowman told RSN.
“We’ll stay the course and be in the second-half of the field. Hopefully he’s relaxed and can get out wide and have a clean crack at them this time.”
Bowman said Begood Toya Mother had lost interest in racing after being on the pace last year which resulted in the trainer searching for something different.
He sent the gelding to Leneva Park where Begood Toya Mother underwent a dressage course and work on their track in an effort to get him to relax.
Relax Begood Toya Mother did in the Group 3 Victoria Handicap at Caulfield on April 3, although the end result was not what Bowman wanted.
In finishing eighth, Begood Toya Mother ran the fifth fastest last 600m sectional, while Bates had little room early in the straight.
“He was slow out and Declan did the right thing and didn’t give him a dig as that would have fired him up,” Bowman said.
“We didn’t want to be last, but it just worked out that way.
“And when you’re last in a 14-horse field, you have 13 bums in front of you and he found three or four of them.”
Bowman said Begood Toya Mother had progressed well since with a jump-out at Terang on Monday to have him in top order for Saturday’s assignment.
