The chance to win a Group One race on one of his favourite horses was enough to convince Hugh Bowman to make a rare trip to Adelaide on Saturday.
The top Sydney jockey has developed a rapport with Miracles Of Life since she joined the Peter and Paul Snowden stable last spring, partnering her to a pair of black-type wins.
And on Saturday he will forgo rides at the rich Hawkesbury meeting to follow the mare to Morphettville where she lines up in the Robert Sangster Stakes.
“It looks a lovely race for her. Peter and Paul have had it identified for a very long time,” Bowman said.
“I feel she’s going well enough to win so I don’t want to miss her.”
Saturday will be a homecoming for Miracles Of Life who began her career at Morphettville under local trainer Daniel Clarken who took her to a Blue Diamond win.
Bowman’s familiarity with the track isn’t as profound.
He has ridden in South Australia sparingly without feature race success and admits it has been a few years since his last visit.
“She will probably have a better idea of where she’s going than I will,” he said.
Miracles Of Life will be chasing her first Group One win since the Blue Diamond Stakes two years ago but a last-start placing at the top level in Sydney has convinced Bowman the pint-sized mare is ready to break the drought.
Bowman will team with the Chris Waller-trained Wine Tales in the Group One Australasian Oaks, a race of significance to the premier Sydney trainer.
Wine Tales will be Waller’s first runner in Adelaide and while Bowman is wary of Victorian pair Fenway and Fontein Ruby, he is hoping an important gear change can spark the Sydney filly into winning form.
“She’s against quality opposition but the blinkers have gone on and that might help switch her on,” Bowman said.
“I think she’s probably got to find a length-and-a-half to be up to the mark here but I think she’s got it in her.”
Bowman is one of three Sydney jockeys riding in Adelaide on Saturday with Blake Shinn and Tim Clark also making the trip.
