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Hugh Bowman went home to his family on Saturday night as only the fourth jockey in Australian history to have won 100 times at Gr.1 level.
But all his 6YO daughter Paige wanted to know – and it wasn’t that – way if he had a trophy for her. As she jumped enthusiastically into his arms, Hugh assured her that indeed he did have one.
“It’s all very humbling to be honest, at my stage of life, whether you win or lose, to see that smile on their face makes it all special. One thing I have learned from racing is from the ups and downs and swings and roundabouts, it’s a great leveler,” Bowman said.
“Look, to be honest when I started, I never set out to ride Australia’s greatest horse or chase 100 Gr.1s. I started riding because I wanted to be a jockey, I just loved competing, I still do, I love the animal, I love the people.
“Sure there is a certain monotony about horse racing at times, but when you take it all away, I ride because that’s what I love, I love winning more than ever, I don’t do it for fame or fortune, I do it for the love of riding regardless.”
Fame and fortune have certainly come his way, whether that’s through the 100 Gr.1s (all over the globe they have come), whether it’s the Winx legacy, or building a new family home in South Coogee, you sense the same laconic demeanour in Bowman today as when he rode his first winner Slatts at the Wellington picnics as he had when we chatted as he drove to Randwick races.
There is no bragging about the achievements, you sense that drive remains unrequited, but it is not what drives him.
If there is one word I would attach to Hugh Bowman, it may simply be perspective. Listening to the Dunedoo drawl opining on lost friends like Damien Murphy and Pat Smullen, or the impact of causing the Andrew Adkins fall or what has befallen Tye Angland, Bowman delivers a quiet, always measured view.
At 41, only George Moore (126), Damien Oliver (118), and Jim Cassidy (102) have ridden more elite race winners than Bowman.
He’ll forever be immortalised by his association with Winx who has supplied 25 of those hundred, as he is with statues with her at Rosehill and Moonee Valley and on a painted pair of silos confronting you as you drive into his hometown of Dunedoo.