Mathew Cahill or Matthew Dale is how Michael Travers remembers the Cowra Cup in recent years. But in the absence of both this year, who knows who will take out the $30,000 feature in the central west on Sunday?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
"They win it every year, one or the other," Travers joked.
And he was laughing through gritted teeth when he described his own record in the race, where the jockey is the only local flavour in 2017, as "horrible".
But an 11th-hour decision to line up tough Gilgandra six-year-old Yes Zariz might be the tonic to turn that around on Sunday.
"To be honest, it was an afterthought," Travers said. "He was very unlucky in the Gilgandra Cup and he just didn't get a clear run when I needed to, even though the winner was much too good on the day.
"He gives the impression he might want a little further so we're going to test that in the Cowra Cup. He was working to the line evenly without doing anything brilliant and now that he's up to the mile we might as well have a crack at the Cowra Cup while he's up and going. At his best he would be chance."
The $26,000 Japan Cowra Cup will be the support act on a program that features local speedster Zarhron for Andrew Molloy.
Travers will partner Bathurst gelding Hair Of The Dog and conceded he will need a marked form reversal to trouble the local hope.
"I won on him a couple of times last preparation, but he's not going as well this time and it's going to be hard to beat Zarhron," Travers said. "He might be too good for them."
The Cowra Jockey Club's feature meeting will have a sombre feel to it after the death of long-time committeeman Peter Ryan just three days after Christmas. The former president spent 40 years on the club's committee and his funeral service will be held on Monday.
TAB meetings
Sunday – Coffs Harbour, Cowra; Monday – Wagga; Tuesday – Kempsey, Nowra; Thursday – Muswellbrook; Friday – Ballina; Saturday – Glen Innes.
