Hugh Bowman celebrated the approval of his extended riding license in Hong Kong (which will now take him through to the end of the season) with a Group 3 win aboard Senor Toba in HK$3.9 million Centenary Vase Handicap which was contested over 1800m at Sha Tin on Sunday.
Bowman was originally handed a contract to ride in Hong Kong from November 13 to February 12.
It was not merely Bowman’s reputation (being a winner of 104 Group 1 races) that helped seal the new deal, but his performances in the saddle since his arrival that have earned him the right to be there.
Bowman’s twenty one winners for the season sees him sit in fifth place on the Hong Kong Jockey’s Championship ladder … that is just two winners behind Lyle Hewitson, who, to put Bowman’s position in context, has had 149 rides more than Bowman.
Bowman’s latest feature race winner, Senor Toba, also has a firm Australian connection.
Two years ago at Moonee Valley on January 15, Senor Toba won a Maiden at double figure odds. In his four of his subsequent starts in Australia, he won the Group 3 Packer Plate at Randwick, finished third in the Group 3 Rough Habit and was only just touched off by the narrowest of margins by his stable-mate Kukerracha in the Queensland Derby when ridden by Hugh Bowman.
Had that ‘whisker’ result gone the other way, Senor Toba would have left Australia’s shores as a Group 1 winner … but another Group 1 winning opportunity is now in Senor Toba’s sights with trainer Casper Fownes confirming Senor Toba will now make the trip to Doha, Qatar to contest the QAT G1 H.H. The Amir Trophy over 2400m at Al Rayyan on 18 February.
Hugh Bowman will remain in Hong Kong at that time, taking up riding engagements there, with Fownes also confirming that Joao Moreira, who has won on Senor Toba before, will take the ride in Qatar.
