SINCE serving his apprenticeship in Bathurst under the guidance of Bill and Leanne Aspros, Hugh Bowman has gone on to forge a reputation as one of Australia’s leading jockeys.
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He has ridden to an incredible 72 Group 1 victories, including three consecutive Cox Plate’s aboard champion mare Winx, but there is one major race which eludes him.
It is the Melbourne Cup.
This year Bowman is hoping he can change that when rides five-year-old English stayer Marmelo for trainer Hughie Morrison in Tuesday’s $6.2 million Cup.
Bowman rode him to sixth place in the Caulfield Cup on October 21, a race in which the Duke Of Marmalade x Capriolla horse got back before finishing well over the last 400 metres.
It was an effort which has him feeling confident.
“I was really pleased with the way Marmelo dashed home in the Caulfield Cup to finish sixth. It shows he can handle our tracks, the tempo of our racing. And before the race I was pretty sure he was going to relish getting over further than a mile-and-a-half. Now I'm convinced,” Bowman wrote in The Age.
“Just getting a ride in the Melbourne Cup is like winning it for me. That may sound silly, but with the weight scale as it is these days there might only be a few horses each year that I'm able to ride. This year, maybe only six or seven could have fitted my weight range. Which is why I'm just ecstatic to have a chance to ride in the race, let alone win it.
“But one thing I'm certain of is I have my best chance of winning the Melbourne Cup with Marmelo. Every jockey wants to win Australia's most famous race, but it's never straightforward. There needs to be so many things fall into place for it to become a reality.”
Tuesday’s Flemington feature will signal Bowman’s seventh ride in the Melbourne Cup.
Bowman made his Cup debut in 2009 when 21st aboard Roman Emperor then had to wait two years for his next shot in the renowned race.
He rode Mourayan, who had been scratched 12 months earlier, to seventh.
Since then Bowman has ridden Seville (2013, 12th), Junoob (2014, eight), Preferment (2015, 20th) and Who Shot Thebarman (2016, fifth).
But Bowman believes Marmelo can do better than all those previous mounts. From 11 career starts he has picked up three wins, but he has only finished out of the placings on three occasions.
Of his wins, two have come over 3,000 metres – the Group 2 Prix Kegorlay and Group 3 Prix De Barbevi - an indication he will handle the 3,200m of the Cup.
The Cup is set to jump at 3pm, with Marmelo to start as one of the favourites.
