SYDNEY Cup day at Randwick on Saturday is shaping as Hugh Bowman day as the top hoop chases wins in the final four group 1 races of the season in NSW.
Bowman was back in the group 1 winners' circle at the track last weekend when scoring on Kiwi filly Daffodil in the AJC Australian Oaks and he is out to add to the tally on Anzac Day.
"Tickets backs up from his second in the Sires' Produce the other day and I think he is primed to win the Champagne," Bowman said last night.
"John O'Shea [trainer] will take the blinkers off him for Saturday's race and that might just turn out to be an important gear change. He raced a little bit keen with them on last weekend, not too bad, but just a tad, and after discussing things with John, I just don't think he really needs them on.
"He goes straight without them, he is a genuine horse as it is. The mile will suit him and he can handle a bit of give in the ground if it keeps raining."
Bowman rides the O'Shea-trained Racing To Win in the All Aged Stakes on Saturday and the grey gelding is out to make it back-to-back wins in the weight-for-age race.
"He just couldn't keep up with them in the T.J. Smith the other day behind Takeover Target," Bowman said.
"I was a bit surprised, they just flew along and we were never in the hunt. But stepping up to the 1400m is going to suit Racing To Win. That is more his distance. It will enable him to settle better."
Randwick and Rosehill Guineas winner Metal Bender, trained by Jack Denham, awaits Bowman in a star-studded Queen Elizabeth Stakes in which fellow three-year-olds Whobegotyou, Sousa and Predatory Pricer are tipped to go around. Metal Bender was midfield in the AJC Australian Derby behind Roman Emperor, which also backs up in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, when ridden by Danny Nikolic.
The Metropolitan winner Newport will be Bowman's Sydney Cup ride. The jockey was aboard the gelding in the JRA Plate in which it finished fourth last weekend.
Newport has been known to be erratic when jumping from the barriers and has thrown its rider twice in recent starts but Bowman is awake to the six-year-old.
"He tried to take a bit of a left turn in the JRA Plate after jumping but it was nothing too bad," he said. "He'll be right in the Sydney Cup."
TAB Sportsbet's Glenn Munsie said yesterday that the Bart Cummings-trained Dandaad was well supported at double-figure odds yesterday to win the Sydney Cup, as were Ista Kareem and Chairman's Handicap winner Divine Rebel.
The Anthony Cummings-trained Adelaide Cup winner Zavite will miss the Sydney Cup after not pulling up well enough following a lacklustre effort behind stablemate Prima Nova in the JRA Plate.
Meanwhile, Whobegotyou's jockey Michael Rodd has been booked to ride Victorian Rockpecker in Saturday week's Prime Minister's Cup at the Gold Coast as well as Kiwi Sphenophyta in the Hollindale Stakes. Sphenophyta formerly had a stint with trainer Lee Freedman in Melbourne, where he performed well in top-class races.
¡ Top three-year-old pacer Captain Joy confirmed he is on track for Sunday's NSW Pacers' Derby at Menangle with a win in a qualifier for the group 1 at the track yesterday.
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