Gary Portelli’s three-year-old Showminder produced a monstrous run to win at Bathurst a little over two weeks ago, and the former Orange trainer will be hoping gelding can repeat it when he returns to the Tyers Park track on Friday afternoon.
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Despite being caught three wide for much of July 30’s 1200-metre maiden handicap and force to push even wider to find a run in the straight, the three-year-old rocketed home to salute for the first time in just his second start.
Naturally he shifts up a grade for Friday’s Bathurst Toyota Class 1 Handicap, but he’ll also take on a bigger trip too, stepping up to 1408 metres.
The three-year-old looked like he could’ve handled a slightly-longer journey in his maiden win and with just 56kg on his back on Friday, Showminder actually looks quite well-placed in a reasonably strong field.
The 10-strong field includes two other last-start winners in Scott Singleton’s Partners and Dean Mirfin’s Winterconi, the latter of which saluted at Tyers Park the same day Showminder did.
The Class 1 Handicap jumps at 2.05pm and is the third on Bathurst’s eight-race program, the 2017 Golden Slipper champion has a couple of other chances running either side of it too.
Portelli, who cut his teeth at Towac Park and is now based out of Warwick Farm, is sending Russian Ahead and Peduzzi to Bathurst as well, they’re set to run in the second and fourth respectively.
The former finished third in her last start and was actually one of the runners Mirfin’s Winterconi beat out.
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Michael Plummer, Brad Draper, Brian Gentle and Alison Smith have also accepted for Friday’s country TAB meeting at Tyers Park, rounding out a healthy Towac-based contingent.
The former has Snappy Diamond, Royal Abbey and Sovereign Default set to go while little over a week after her second career win, Lily’s Little Girl is named as an emergency in the last. The five-year-old mare is also nominated at Gilgandra on Saturday though, and has been handed 54kg there.
Draper’s Eva Jean is listed in the 1408-metre final race as well, along with Smith’s Strada Prince, while Gentle has accepted with All The Wine in the first and Star Zone in the fifth.
Racing kicks off at 12.50pm at Bathurst, on Friday.
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Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
