Bowman bound for further international success
Crowned the world’s best jockey last week, Bowman has spent the past two days on a reconnoitre mission in Dubai before returning to Japan where he will attempt to complete the Japan Cup – Arima Kinen double on Cheval Grand (Heart’s Cry).
“I was invited to have a look around Dubai,” Bowman said. “I’ve not ridden there before but I was certainly happy to take up the invitation and keep my options open for the early part of next year. Riding through the World Cup carnival would always be a possibility if good horses I’m associated with were to go.
“They might be from Australia or from Japan or Hong Kong where I’ve now been lucky enough to build a great support base.”
Bowman, who’s won major races in all three countries and claimed the 2016 International Jockeys Challenge in Hong Kong, aside from being named ‘world’s best’ in the past 13 months, returns to Japan until the end of December. He’ll then visit wife Christine’s family in Ireland before an early new year resettlement in Australia.
He’s been Australia’s number one Group One rider in four of the past five seasons with an aggregate of 44 top level winners in that time. He has four Group One winners at home so far this season plus, of course, the Japan Cup. His first Group One win was Defier (Dehere) in the 2004 Doomben Cup.
Bowman has distinguished himself with his willingness to be available to the media and race club promotional teams and it’s no secret that organisers of the Longines World’s Best Jockey presentation were secretly barracking for Bowman rather than the taciturn Ryan Moore. Bowman did not disappoint with his eloquence on the night.
His Christmas Eve appearance at Nakayama, for the Arima Kinen, will have the fans pumped for what is generally reckoned to be the biggest betting turnover race in the world – hovering around US$380,000,000. The turnover on Hong Kong last Sunday was around US$200,000,000.
More than 100,000 fans will literally cram into the track despite the likely very cold weather. It’s the fans’ race with the majority of the runners selected by popular vote and in Japan, as with the Melbourne Cup or the Grand National, if you have a bet on only race a year then the Arima Kinen is the one. People queue up for days for tickets as we do with football finals.
There was no joy for Bowman in Hong Kong last Sunday but Zac Purton, with a double including the Hong Kong Cup and Nash Rawiller with his breakthrough major race in is new home, kept the Australian jockeys to the fore.
Rawiller, of course, won the Hong Kong Sprint (with the first five home AUS or NZ bred) aboard Australian-bred Mr Stunning who was one of six Australasian bred winners on the day.
It’s been well publicised that Nash Rawiller’s father Keith had to be well and truly coerced to get to Hong Kong to see his son win the Group One sprint. Both were overjoyed. Less known is that Rawiller senior has the distinction of winning metropolitan races as a jockey and also as a trotting driver.
The New Zealand-bred Beauty Generation (Road To Rock), who raced in Australia as Montaigne and was second in the 2016 Rosehill Guineas, won the Hong Kong Mile.
But the race which generated as much interest as the internationals was the Class One with NZ-bred Southern Legend (Not A Single Doubt), who raced under the same name in Australia, beating the odds-on favourite and Australian-bred Nothingilikemore (Husson), who was shooting for six straights wins.
Despite the defeat, most observers – including Caspar Fownes who trained the upset winner – rate Nothingilikemore as one of the two best emerging talents in Hong Kong. The other is Hot King Prawn (Denman), who is also Australian-bred and also, like Nothingilikemore, prepared by John Size.
Both horses are Inglis Classic Sales graduates. Torryburn Stud sold Hot King Prawn for $90,000 to Aquanita Racing at the 2016 sale and he went to Hong Kong unraced after being prepared by Robert Smerdon. Nothingilikemore was offered by Toolooganvale Farm at the 2015 Classic Sale and bought for $40,000 by agent John Foote.
Southern Legend, offered by Columbine Stud at the 2014 Inglis Easter Yearling Sales, was purchased for $280,000 by Neville Begg and Carmel Size. He was originally trained by Les Bridge.
Beauty Generation was bred by Nearco Stud, and offered by Highden Park at the 2014 NZB Select Sale, where he was secured by Hermes Syndications for NZ$60,000.
The Makybe bred Mr Stunning (Exceed And Excel) was originally sold for $110,000 at the 2013 Great Southern Sale but was on-sold at Karaka – by Lyndhurst Farm – for NZ$250,000.