Nozomi goes bush in search of victory

Godolphin-owned horses will run at a dozen racecourses on four continents this weekend, but none will be quite like the destination at which Nozomi will carry the famous royal blue colours on Sunday.

Nozomi is off to Great Western, a town with a population of 650 in the Wimmera region of Victoria, to contest the 138^th running of the Great Western Cup.

The Lee and Anthony Freedman-trained gelding is topweight for the $30,000 Cup, the feature race at the town’s only race meeting for the year.

The third placegetter in the G1 Victoria Derby of 2014, Nozomi has endured problems over recent seasons that have restricted his racing. But, thanks to the care and attention of the Freedman brothers, he has always retained the ability to win races, as he showed at Caulfield last October when he scored impressively.

“We’ve taken him along slowly and chosen his races carefully. It can be difficult to find the right race at the right trip and we thought this one looked suitable for him,” said Lee Freedman.

Race meetings like Sunday’s at Great Western are part of the social fabric of Australian country towns. The first Great Western Cup was run in 1877 and apart from occasional cancellations due to war and weather, has been held every year since.

“We’re typical of a lot of country clubs around Victoria, we rely on volunteers to keep it all going and these Cup days are the highlight of the year for a lot of people in the district,” said Great Western Racing Club secretary Mike Barry.

“To have a Godolphin horse entered for our race is absolutely fantastic, it gives us all a great thrill.”

Not that Great Western hasn’t attracted big names in the past.

Australia’s leading trainer Darren Weir had three runners in 2016 and again has an entry this year and last year’s winner Scelto, trained by Robbie Laing, returns on Sunday to defend his victory.

Nozomi’s topweight of 61.5kg will be reduced by a 2kg claim for apprentice rider Liam Riordan.