Warrnambool trainer Daniel Bowman looks likely to lift the bar with Is It Me after the underrated galloper’s impressive victory in the $130,000 Stud & Stable Staff Leadership Award (1400m) at Flemington last Saturday. 
With Billy Egan on board, Is It Me ($3.50 favourite) beat Capper Thirtynine by half a length in the benchmark 84 event, with Riverina Power 1¾ lengths adrift in third.
Bowman said this week he’s looking at the $200,000 Group 3 Shaftesbury Avenue Handicap on March 8, over the same 1400-metre course as Is It Me’s last two wins, for the five-year-old’s next start.
“He deserves a crack at a Group 3 and the Shaftesbury Avenue looks the ideal race,” Bowman said. 
“We’ve just taken him through his classes slowly and he’s kept on delivering. I’m sure he’s up to Group 3 standard. 
“He’s got a very good record at Flemington and his overall record is excellent. He’s a very honest horse. 
“We’ve worked him out he goes best when his races are spaced. 
“He’s won six races and run second on five occasions (from 20 starts). With a bit of luck he could have won seven or eight but we’ll take the six wins for now.”
The Group 1-winning trainer said Is It Me would potter around at home following Saturday’s win.
“We won’t be doing much work with him,” he said. “He’ll spend a lot of time in the paddock. 
“He’s best kept fresh. It’ll take him a week to 10 days to get over Saturday’s run and then we’ll get him ready for the Shaftesbury Avenue. 
“I’d love to keep Billy on. He’s a very good jockey who often floats under the radar. He has a great understanding of Is It Me and that’s a real bonus because he can be a quirky horse to ride.”
Is It Me, a $40,000 purchase as a yearling has won $411,850 in stakes.
Bowman’s winning run continued at Ararat on Sunday when Moonraker ($2.50 favoruite) won an 1100-metre maiden at his first start for the stable.
“I was pretty confident he’d run well,” he said. “He’d trialled up well. We gelded him once he came into our stable and that seemed to settle him down. I’m quietly confident he’ll go through his grades but we’re in no rush with him.”
Moonraker was unplaced from three starts for Peter and Paul Snowden before entering Bowman’s stables.
Little fish sweet for Simon
With the 2025 jumps season only a few weeks away, Warrnambool trainer Simon Ryan is quietly building up a team of jumpers that he hopes will be competitive in the lower grades.
Ryan will saddle up Topspin, Sanika, Rapid Impact and Preferencing and he’s hopeful another couple of jumpers will be in his care as the season progresses. 
“I’m just taking them along slowly,” he said. “I don’t think they’ll measure up to any of the big jumps features. I’ll be looking at the lesser jumps races with my team. 
“I might be able to pick up another couple of likely jumpers from interstate over the next few months. 
“It looks like being another big season for the sport, with plenty of trainers getting involved.”
In other stable news, Ryan said he was happy with the run of Ocean Beyond for fifth in last Saturday’s listed Elms Handicap (1400m) at Flemington. 
He hinted the seven-year-old would have his next start in a 1600-metre race at Flemington on Saturday week, March 1.
Basil bags another cup
Front-running stayer Flying Basil added a second cup to his record for Warrnambool trainer Shane Jackson last Sunday.
With Tom Madden in the saddle, Flying Basil ($3.50 favourite) added the Naracoorte Cup (2000m) to his last-start win in the Hanging Rock Cup (1800m) last month.
It’s the Magnus gelding’s third cup overall, as he won the 2023 Sapphire Coast Cup in the care of Jackson Pallot. His four starts for Jackson have yielded the two cup wins and a Moonee Valley third.
Jackson said Flying Basil appreciates the tight-turning tracks.
“He’s a tough horse,” he said. “He’s hard to beat when he can dictate the pace aroud the tight tracks. It was a very good ride by Tom. 
Jackson said the Edenhop Cup (March 8) might be next on the seven-year-old’s agenda.
Farewell to Jimmy
Grand Annual-winning jockey Jimmy Walter passed away in Coleraine on Sunday.
Among many jumps winners through his career, Walter won the 1966 Grand Annual on the Keith Bullock-trained Hoadville. 
Mr Walter also rode in flat races before having a stint as a steward in the south-west.
Deepest sympathy is extend to the Walter family at this sad time.