Laura King interviews E-J Bowler, who led up Dubai World Cup winner Hit Show for the latest in a series of major international victories
If you have won two of the biggest races in the world with two horses who have travelled from overseas, then you must be pretty good at your job.
But E-J Bowler isn’t having any of that. According to her, she’s just “very, very lucky”.
Bowler’s record would beg to differ. In the past decade the groom has won the G1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot with Tepin, a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf with Catch A Glimpse and, just last week, the $12m Dubai World Cup with Hit Show.
She became immediately recognisable in the aftermath of the race, thanks to a viral video of her leaping up and down celebrating the victory.
“I’m not sure how I feel about that!” she says ruefully. “There are so many people involved with this horse that I feel a little guilty for getting the attention – it should be going elsewhere.”
Bowler maintains she was “in the right place at the right time” when she got the call from the Brad Cox team to accompany Hit Show to Dubai.
Extra pair of hands
“I was around him, on and off, for the last two summers when I worked Keeneland and Saratoga as an exercise rider for Brad,” she says. “When it became clear they needed an extra pair of hands in Dubai, I was very willing!”
She instantly struck a closer bond with Hit Show, who thrived in Dubai when ridden by Cox’s assistant Dustin Dugas each morning. “He’s got some cool energy and seems to really love his job,” she says of the striking grey. “He knows what he’s here for!”
Harrogate-born Bowler, 39, has gained a reputation as a safe pair of hands since moving to the US from Yorkshire as a teenager when her mother emigrated.
In 2016 she helped pull off one of the greatest international training feats of the last decade when Mark Casse-trained Tepin beat males including G1 winners Belardo, Toormore and Mondialiste at Royal Ascot.
Midway through a nine-year stint working for Casse at the time, Bowler was based in Lambourn with the mare and rode her each day.
“She was a phenomenal mare, with such a big heart, an absolute love in the barn and then all business, fierce racehorse on the track,” she remembers. “Just an absolute marvel of a Thoroughbred. She beat the boys, which was unbelievable.
“This race [Dubai World Cup] is a mirror image of that – we went to Ascot to give it our all, but we didn’t expect anything like that to happen. For me, this is similar in that we weren’t going in as favourite although he’d been training brilliantly on the surface and gave us plenty of confidence in the way he handled himself all week.”
Wind the clock back 12 months and Bowler was the centre of attention at Meydan for another reason, sobbing after the horse she was looking after, the Michael Stidham-trained Catnip, suffered a fatal injury in the Dubai Turf.
Heartbreaking
“What happened last year was heartbreaking, just awful,” she says in her down-to-earth Yorkshire accent. “I’d been trying to get to Dubai for 15 years – that was my goal. I didn’t know if I’d get the opportunity again. That was what made it so emotional and really magnified it for me.”
She remembers this year’s race with perfect clarity, Florent Geroux galvanising Hit Show at just the right time to deny pacesetter Mixto and hot favourite Forever Young for a 66-1 upset.
“In the first part of the race I liked his position – Flo did a hell of a job,” she says. “Then I lost him on the turn when he was in the pack and then he started to move and we could see the wheels turning and the horse did it – he did it!”
The victory sparked wild celebration from the many associates of owners Wathnan Racing in the winner’s enclosure. “I loved all that – the excitement and the utter disbelief when he crossed the wire,” remembers Bowler. “Then as soon as the horse comes back you just switch back to him and what he needs – get him and the owners safely to the winner’s circle safely. It was a sea of people.”
Were there any big celebrations afterwards? It was, after all, a race with $6,960,000 to the winning connections. “We were still in disbelief I think,” she grins. “We took our time to settle the boys in and then we let our hair down for a few hours. We went to the rooftop bar of our hotel and then ended up eating food at 2am – it was a long night.”
Four days after the race Bowler flew back to the UK for a much-needed break and time with family. She hasn’t thought too much further, although she’s likely to see plenty more of Hit Show – whose stable name, disappointingly, is Hit Show.
“I’ll go back to Keeneland and then maybe to Saratoga with Brad,” she says. “I try not to plan too far ahead, as on the racetrack plans always change.”
When they do, you suspect Bowler takes it in an unflappable manner reflecting the calmness that makes her so good at what she does. Again, though, she’s not having it.
“I’m just one of the luckiest people, honestly,” she says. “I’ve just been with the right teams and phenomenal racehorses.”
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