Pressure’s on and ‘Hugh will handle it just fine’

RACING: Ron Quinton is one of the few people with an idea of what Hugh Bowman will be feeling as the latter heads to Moonee Valley today tasked with the most high-profile ride of his life.

Bowman will ride Winx in the Cox Plate as the mare bids for an unprecedented fourth win in the weight-for-age championship of Australasia after equalling Kingston Town’s treble a year ago.

An eight-time premier jockey in Sydney, Quinton has gone on to become a successful trainer but fondly remembers 1981 when he was called on to replace the suspended Malcolm Johnston on Kingston Town in the second of the geldresult.” ing’s three Cox Plates.

“TJ (Smith) rang me on Sunday morning and asked if I would like to ride Kingston Town,” Quinton said.

“He was the best horse in the country and I went straight down straightaway to ride him every day leading up to the Cox Plate. He was like a kid’s pony to ride and we got the right A multiple Group 1-winning trainer, Quinton also has no peer in Sydney as a mentor of young riders.

Bowman is the best so far to come through the Quinton school, and the two are close friends who share an innate understanding of horses.

“A lot of people don’t realise the pressure that mounts when you are riding the best horse in the country ... because people don’t expect the horse to get beaten,” Quinton said.

“But once you’re out on the course and do the preliminaries and get round to the start and line up, it’s game on.

“Hugh will handle it all just fine.”