He is maligned by punters but Godolphin gelding Best Of Days has a fan in jockey Hugh Bowman.
Bowman is the first to admit the seasoned campaigner doesn’t win out of turn but he says it isn’t for want of trying.
“He’s got a style where he needs things to go his way a bit but if they do, he can pull a rabbit out of a hat from time to time,” Bowman said.
“The thing about him is he’s actually a very consistent horse. It’s just from a punter’s point of view, he’s a horse where they probably think, ‘next start’ and fall into him when he just doesn’t get the job done.
“From a rider’s point of view, he’s a pleasure to ride and he always puts in.”
Bowman is yet to win a race on Best Of Days but he has a great record on the eight-year-old, who he has ridden four times for a brace of seconds in last year’s Villiers Stakes and Summer Cup, a third in the 2019 Crystal Mile and a fourth in Group Three grade.
The horse has finished within two lengths of the winner at his two lead up runs in Melbourne and was coming off an interstate switch the last time he won a race – the Carlyon Cup at Caulfield in February.
He will take his place in Saturday’s Group 2 Shannon Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill and has drawn ideally in barrier two.
Best Of Days is $10 in early markets with Love Tap, who won the Gloaming Stakes on the corresponding program last year, a $3.10 favourite after returning to form with a Kembla Grange win last start.
