Hugh Bowman will be counting the days until The Everest after Lost And Running showed his toughness and quality to win the Premiere Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.
“I can’t wait for the next fortnight,” Bowman said to connections in the winner’s stall.
Hugh Bowman on Lost And Running (right) takes out the Premiere Stakes at Royal Randwick.Credit:Getty
The John O’Shea-trained sprinter was never really at home on the heavy track, but rolled into the race out wide and then held on in a blanket finish from Mazu and Masked Crusader, which lost no admirers for the $15 million showcase on October 15.
They all have to beat favourite Nature Strip but there is a growing belief in the Lost And Running camp.
“He’s such a big horse that he works a lot harder in that ground than the others, so I had to let him roll into the race,” Bowman said. “He doesn’t get the benefit of his acceleration on this sort of track and on a better track he would have put lengths on them the way he felt. He was out on his feet at the 100m mark, but they were never going to beat him.”
The margins were a short neck and a head to his Everest rivals, but O’Shea was smiling.
Hugh Bowman on Lost And Running returns to scale after the Premiere Stakes.Credit:Getty
“It was a super win because Hugh had to get off the back of Overpass who took him nowhere. So he had to make a really long run on him. But that is the way you want to ride a 6/4 chance, take all the luck out of it,” O’Shea said. “There is improvement left in him. He will be better in a couple of weeks.“
Mazu trainer Peter Snowden was pleased with his effort, but will encourage jockey Sam Clipperton to be more patient in The Everest.
“He just chased from the 800m to the turn and probably if he lets him take the ground himself, he wins,” Snowden said.
“He is on course and there is a little left in the tank.“
Masked Crusader’s trainer Michael Hawkes is just hoping for a dry track come Everest day.
“I’m smiling, he went back to the inside and finished best again, the big pay day is next start,” Hawkes said.
ZOUGOTCHA TAKES FLIGHT
Chris Waller will find out how good Zougotcha is next year, but he will do it as a group 1 winner after she completed her dominant spring with victory in the Flight Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.
“The thing you don’t really know about where the ceiling is with this horse,” Waller said. “We will find out in the autumn when she has time to mature. She has done everything we have asked of her and that ticked the group 1 box.”
James McDonald celebrates on Zougotcha after winning the Flight Stakes.Credit:Getty
James McDonald again put Zougotcha on the speed and shot up on the inside and raced away to win by two lengths, leaving no doubt who the best filly was, with Champagne Stakes winner She’s Extreme second and leader North Star Lass third a half neck away.
“She’s a star. She’s come on. Her work during the week she’s been superb, she’s blossomed,” McDonald said. “She’s a really good filly, she adapted to the conditions well. She did her job.
“She’s a quality filly and she showed her qualities today popping into the box seat. They only went slow and she didn’t give anything else much of a chance.”
IN SMOKIN’ FORM
Smokin’ Romans continued his amazing graduation from country cups to the big stage when he defied the challenges of more highly rated horses to take out the group 1 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington.
He was elevated to Caulfield Cup favouritism with Pointsbet installing him as a $7 chance as he will drop from the 55.5kg he carried to win the Turnbull Stakes to 51.5kg for that race.
History backs Smokin’ Romans as the past two winners of the Turnbull Stakes, Verry Elleegant and Incentivise, completed the double a fortnight later at Caulfield.
The win gave Ciaron Maher and Dave Eustace their first Turnbull Stakes winner and Maher said he hadn’t been surprised by Smokin’ Romans improvement from winning the Pakenham Cup late last year to being a group 1 winner 10 months later.
Ethan Brown salutes on Smokin’ Romans after winning the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington.Credit:Getty
“He’s been a real product of the system. Late last prep we sent him down to the beach as he was always very quirky just to get him used to going on and off the float all the time,” Maher said.
Smokin’ Romans ($21) defeated Maximal ($14) by a length and a half with Young Werther ($8.50) a short head away third.
