Age: 37
Principal Riders: Barry O’Neill, Sean Flanagan
Colin Bowe is a relatively new addition to the training ranks that has already made a notable impact in the few short months he has held his full license. Bowe spent time learning his trade with both Jim Bolger and Aidan O’Brien. After that, he started breaking in half-bred horses and moved onto pre-training horses for the racecourse. From there, the natural progression was to begin training point-to-pointers and it wasn’t long before he made an impact in that sphere.
Success Between The Flags
Colin first made his racing name in the point-to-point field, training horses that he sought to sell on after preparing them to win. He had a number of smart horses through his hands, most notably the Grade 1-class chaser Snowy Morning and the Grade 1-winning novice hurdler Shinrock Paddy. Indeed, the former was Bowe’s first winner between the flags when prevailing at Clonmel in May 2005. In his final season as an out-and-out point-to-point trainer in 2009/10, he won the prestigious Leading Handler title.
With the recession taking its toll on the prices that winning point-to-pointers were generating, Bowe took the decision to begin running them on the racecourse and having taken out his training permit, he saddled his first runner on the racecourse at Fairyhouse in February 2010, with Jan Jandura finishing sixth in a bumper. He didn’t have to wait long to gain his first success on the racecourse, sending out Model County Lass to win a bumper at Tramore on April 17th. Little over a month later, he doubled his tally by sending out Lively Lass to win a bumper at Wexford and it was soon after that that he unveiled his unbeaten point-to-pointer Askanna.
Askanna Takes Centre Stage
The John Asple-owned mare had won both her starts in point-to-points in good style and began her racecourse career in a 2m 4f bumper at Kilbeggan in May 2010. Sent off at 7/2, Barry O’Neill guided her to an authoritative 1½ lengths success. Three weeks later, O’Neill was again in the saddle when she made a winning hurdling debut at Listowel and after that she was given a short break. Whilst she was on the easy list, Bowe completed his trainer’s course and acquired his full training license, which allowed him to saddle significantly more runners. It didn’t take long for this decision to pay dividends, with Misspublican and King’sandqueen’s winning bumpers in quick succession in August and a month later, Lets Go Sunshine won a maiden hurdle at Downpatrick.
An October To Remember
While those winners had already got people in Irish racing talking, the month of October would see Bowe become the talk of the racecourses as he went on a remarkable winning streak. The returning Askanna got the ball rolling, winning a conditions hurdle at Gowran Park on the opening day of the month. That win was soon followed by Ikansea winning a handicap hurdle at Limerick and Our Victoria winning a bumper at Punchestown, while Lets Go Sunshine prevailed in a maiden chase at Downpatrick soon after. As if that wasn’t enough, he squeezed in another two winners before the end of the month, sending out Our Victoria to win a maiden hurdle at Clonmel and Model County Lass to win a maiden hurdle at Cork on the final day of the month. That latter win made it six wins from just 17 runners during the course of the month, a remarkable achievement for 35 horse yard.
The majority of Bowe’s inmates at present are mares, but he is already being sent a better quality of gelding. Indeed, his very first winner Snowy Morning has returned to his yard and is being targeted at all the top hunter chases. In recognition of his achievements in the last year, Bowe has been nominated for the Point-To-Point Award at the 2010 Horse Racing Ireland Awards. With Snowy Morning and Askanna leading the way, Colin Bowe is very much a trainer to keep on the right side of in the years ahead.
