Warwick Farm based trainer Jarrod Austin will make the now familiar trip over the Blue Mountains and into the Central West region of New South Wales with two major players.
Austin, whose tally of winners is fast approaching 200, counts 21 of those at Orange and Bathurst.
His travelling duo are both set to make their respective Bathurst debuts, namely Baycat and the aptly-named fleet of foot, Super Zippi.
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Lightly-raced four-year-old Baycat proved an instant hit for Austin and her new band of merry owners when she ran her rivals off their collective legs to win a 1000m Canberra Maiden on September 19.
She steps out in the Bathurst Regional Security Class 1 Handicap over 1200m.
“I’m not saying we ride her like that all the time, it was just the circumstances of the race and the barrier that we drew,” Austin said.
“She just went straight to the front and was too good and had a little bit up her sleeve coming to the line.
“The second horse did frank the form, it came and won its next start.”
It was Baycat’s first run for Austin and her first one north of the Murray River since her last one at Kyneton for Tony and Calvin McEvoy at the end of February.
“We picked her up on Inglis Digital a couple of months back for $19,000,” Austin said.
“She was placed three out of four starts down there so her form was pretty good.
“I have been really happy with her since her first run and she goes into the race in pretty good order.”
Baycat has plenty left to offer, and earn, on the racetrack before she heads off to the breeding barn.
When that time comes, she will surely be a sought-after mare given her pedigree.
Baycat is the second foal of her dam Split Lip whose four wins included the Listed SAJC Dequetteville Stakes in Adelaide, a race that dates back to 1890; the same year that Carbine won his Melbourne Cup.
Stablemate Super Zippi has likewise never raced at Bathurst but she has been to neighbouring Orange and won.
Her other victory was much closer to home, at Canterbury, which while welcome at the time, came with a certain level of baggage as Austin explained.
“She is probably a victim of her own success by winning her maiden at Canterbury,” her trainer said.
“It just sort of bumped her benchmark rating up and she was up in that higher grade straight away.
“I must say, I thought she ran really well at Newcastle last start.
“That was 900m and I think 1100 to 1200m is perfect for her.”
Her mission this week is the CWNET Benchmark 66 over 1100m.
Austin, meanwhile, was able to provide a very positive update on the stable’s top gun, Terra Mater, whose magnum opus came in last spring’s edition of the Group 3 Tibbie Stakes.
“She had a paddock incident a few months ago so that set us back a fair bit but thankfully she is all good and she’s been back in work now for ten days,” Austin said.
“I’m really happy with her. She has come back really good and it is great to have her back in work again.
“We’ll target some of those sprint races over the summer with her, there’s a few there.”
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One of racing’s most dynamic duo’s will head north, instead of their usual trip south, lured by the possibility of a tilt at a $3 million race now just 18 days away.
Trainer Theresa Bateup and jockey Jess Taylor combine for the 988th time when the ‘stable bargain’ Mr Fabulous steps out in the $100,000 Taree Cup (2000m) which comes with the added bonus of Big Dance Eligibility.
“It wasn’t entirely on the agenda, we were probably sort of looking at going to Warwick Farm next Wednesday and then I was just looking at the diary and saw the Taree Cup,” Bateup said.
“There were few better ones (horses) in the noms but at acceptance time, it dropped away a bit, and he’s come up with a nice gate.”
Taree’s town feature will be Taylor’s second consecutive ride aboard the blue-blooded Mr Fabulous.
They first combined for an eye-catching fourth on the Kensington track nine days ago when nudging up along the fence late in the 1800m Benchmark 72.
Mr Fabulous has covered plenty of territory both on and off the track.
He was born in Scone, sold in Sydney (for a whopping $750,000) and spent most of his career racing in Victoria.
His most notable runs for previous trainer Ciaron Maher were a pair of seconds at The Valley and a third in the annual Jericho Cup staged over a gruelling 4600m.
“He is such a relaxed horse in a race that I can see how he gets out to the 3200 metres and the 4600 metres but at the same time, I don’t think he needs those distances and the problem is, once you get them up to those distances, you run out of options very quickly,” Bateup said.
Mr Fabulous’ exorbitant price-tag can be attributed to his epic pedigree and physical resemblance to his famous father, Pierro.
“He is a lovely horse,” Bateup said.
“He has got a few little quirks to him, he doesn’t like to be fussed over but he is a lovely looking individual.”
Mr Fabulous is a half-brother to stakes winners Emeralds and Fours Moves Ahead and from the same family as the previous Aga Khan’s two European Horse of the Year, siblings Daylami and Dalakhani.
The Taree Cup is the last of the country track opportunities to book a berth at Randwick come the first Tuesday in November.
Royal Randwick will host the last of all available chances to make the field, Saturday, when the Big Dance Wild Card is run.
Originally published as Bathurst preview: Trainer Jarrod Austin quietly confident Baycat and Super Zippi a ready to deliver winning performances