Jim Cassidy has continued his good form since returning from a Christmas break with a brilliant frontrunning ride aboard promising stayer Hippopus at Canterbury.
The champion jockey took some time off over the summer to recharge his batteries and his body, returning with a bang last Friday night when he landed a winning double.
He added to that tally on Wednesday aboard the Gai Waterhouse-trained Hippopus who made all the running in the 1900 metre race and went right on with the job to score a runaway 3-3/4 length win.
By High Chaparrel, the sire of So You Think, Hippopus was backing up from a narrow defeat last Wednesday and signalled bigger things lay in store.
“He’s a promising stayer,” Waterhouse’s stable representative Mark Newnham said.
“Last week he was inexperienced and it cost him the race. It was also his first time at a mile-and-a-half and his first time against seasoned horses.
“Back to three-year-old company today, Jim was able to dictate.
“He relaxed perfectly and he’s starting to learn his trade now.”
Cassidy, whose mounts at Rosehill on Saturday include More Joyous’ little sister Most Joyful in the Widden Stakes and Victorian Oaks winner Dear Demi in the Light Fingers, was happy to keep the results ticking over.
“You’ve got to get the form on the board to get the support,” he said.
Team Hawkes also continued to roll out the winners with filly Angel Bee taking out Wednesday’s Diane Hills Maiden Plate (1100m) at just her second start.
The training partnership celebrated a feature race double on Saturday with All Too Hard’s Orr Stakes victory at Caulfield and Happy Galaxy winning the Expressway Stakes at Warwick Farm.
Angel Bee is bred to appreciate further being by Pins out of a Zabeel mare and Michael Hawkes said they would look to step her up in trip.
“She may be a good 1400 metre horse. She’s got that turn of foot which is great and she’s got a lot of upside,” Hawkes said.
Meanwhile, the Peter Moody-trained pair of Office Bearer and Lampedusa took part in an exhibition gallop with the latter shading his stablemate on the line.
The hitout was staged so stewards could look at Office Bearer’s extravagent leg action which concerned them when he won at Warwick Farm in December.
They wanted to reassess his gait before clearing him to run again in Sydney and Wednesday’s gallop was crucial in that process but no ruling has been made.
“We haven’t made a decision yet. We’ve taken video footage of the head-on and we will discuss it with Mr Moody and chief steward Ray Murrihy,” steward Greg Rudolph said.
