There is still plenty of fight left in this old-timer yet.
In fact, At Witz End, an eight-year-old, Danny Bowen trained gelding is thriving and it is all full steam ahead as he sets out to make it three straight wins when he takes on a Quality Handicap test over 1350m at Doomben on Saturday.
While the son of Epaulette will be having his sixty-first career start, it will only be his third outing since relocating to the Bowen yard … where he has already put those two wins on the board as well, as the fourth place finish he posted when debuting for the Bowen stable, a result he has built on in significant fashion in a very short space of time.
“He’s flying,” said Bowen. “I bought him for $10,000 on Bloodstock Auctions. I’ve only had him for three runs. He won two of those and now he is one of the favourites for the big race in town on Saturday.” (Those wins brought in $62 750 in prize-money).
“He sat three or four deep the other day and blew then away running the fastest last 200m of the day. I hope when I’m the equivalent of eight years old in racehorse terms I can hit the line like him.
“He has just fitted well into my system, and he is enjoying life.
“I’ll just leave it up to Sam (Collett – who won on him last time). She’s been having a bit of luck for the stable lately, so I’ll leave it up to her.”
And the story on Beef Week Princess, who races in a BM70 Handicap over 1650m at the same meeting?
“She hasn’t raced for four weeks,” said Bowen. ‘Generally, she needs the run, so I just hope she can get a soft run and finish off. She has got a big weight as well.
“She never got a run as an emergency and then they called off a meeting, so she has missed two runs, but she has been racing with great heart.
“Look, if she runs in the top four, I’ll be happy … and she’ll be better next time.”
Either way, punters might by now be wary of Beef Week Princess. She was a $51 winner at the Gold Coast on March 9 and then backed up to only just get nosed out a week later at Eagle Farm when again being shown little respect in the betting, jumping at a starting price of $19 with betting apps in Australia.
Bowen’s old mate, Danny Peisley has the ride on Beef Week Princess.
“Danny helps me out a lot. He is a great friend of mine … we go back a very long way, I like to give him a ride where I can, but he can’t ride under 58kg, so we do what we can,” said Bowen.
