Hugh Bowman will ride Winx in Monday's trial
Chris Waller has confirmed that Hugh Bowman will still ride Winx in Monday’s barrier trial at Rosehill Gardens, despite his impending riding appeal, as the star mare nears her autumn return.
Bowman’s appeal against his careless riding suspension will be heard a couple of hours after Winx’s trial on Monday at 11am and despite a school of thought that Waller would use the opportunity to familiarise a replacement jockey with Winx, he was quick to dismiss that idea on Sky Sports Radio on Saturday morning.
“We are no further down the track there,” said Waller. “I haven’t spoken to any jockeys yet. I’ve spoken to the owners. We’ll see how the Monday appeal plays out and then work out what we do from there.”
Don’t expect to see fireworks from the now six-year-old mare when she jumps out in the first heat at 8.15am.
“We won’t be asking her to win the trial, just stay in behind them. We did ask her to win a trial last prep but I don’t think anything was gained by it. She’ll just tick over nicely behind them and then be ready to head to the races,” Waller said.
“We’re happy with the way she looks. She had a gallop yesterday (Friday). She is picture perfect.”
Article by Brad Gray
