Jockey Hugh Bowman has a number of other winning hopes at Royal Randwick on The Championships Day 2 outside of Winx including the ATC Oaks 2017 favourite Bonneval who âlooks amazingâ according to the hoop.
NZ Oaks winner Bonneval will be out to follow in the footsteps of stablemate Jon Snow (pictured) who won the ATC Derby lining-up in the Australian Oaks on Saturday. Photo: Steve Hart.
Winx is the headline attraction in Sydney on the weekend chasing her 17th-straight turf triumph as the $1.90 favourite at Ladbrokes.com.au in the $4 million Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m).
Bowman is supremely and justifiably confident aboard the Queen of Australian racing and is also talking up the chances of one his other key Randwick rides on Saturday.
Kiwi raider Bonneval is prepared by Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman who took out last Saturdayâs Group 1 Australian Derby (2400m) with Jon Snow.
The daughter of Makfi is yet to race down under, but put the writing on the wall for a win in the $1 million Group 1 Australian Oaks (2400m) at home last start.
On March 18 she took out the Group 1 NZ Oaks (2400m) over the mile and a half and now chases her third win on the trot.
The NZ Oaks form held-up in last autumnâs Australian Oaks results with the runner-up Sofia Rosa getting the job done in the Sydney edition.
The bookies have Bonneval on top to do the same in 2017 and she currently pays $4.20 in the Australian Oaks odds at Ladbrokes.com.au.
She certainly ticks plenty of boxes, but favourites have a poor record in the ATC Oaks with just one winning in the past decade when Streama saluted in 2012 at short odds.
Bowman has ridden three previous Australian Oaks winners to victory including success aboard two New Zealand-trained fillies.
His first was on Daffodil (2009) who came off a Kiwi lead-up, while a win on aforementioned Streama for the late Guy Walter also came before his success on Sofia Rosa last Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival.
Bonneval is yet to race on Heavy going, but her excellent form on Soft tracks back home suggest sheâll handle a rain-affected Randwick track in her Australian race debut.
Bowman put the gun filly through her paces on Tuesday morning in her final serious piece of work and was impressed with how she felt even on a bottomless track.
“I rode her work on Tuesday morning and the track was extremely heavy so it was hard to get a really good guide, but what I can say is the horse looks amazing,” he told Racing Victoria.
“I haven’t seen a horse look that healthy in a long time. In her skin and in her demeanour.”
Other key Australian Oaks contenders out to stop Bonneval from franking the NZ form include the Vinery Stud Stakes runner-up Nurse Kitchen ($5.50) who made up all the ground from the back in the Group 1 last time out and the springâs Crown Oaks winner Lasqueti Spirit ($8).
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