JIM BOWCOCK is the breeder of Youthful Jack, the Youthful Legs 6-year-old gelding who has stormed to victory in two stakes races in Tasmania in the first two weeks of this month.
Jim Bowcock spent more than sixty years with the now disposed Alabama stud in the Segenhoe valley near Scone.
He went to Alabama in the mid1940s, not long after it was established by his father Ray Bowcock, a Sydney businessman who in the quarter century after World War 11 emerged as one of the most fearless big spenders on bloodstock Australia has seen. His son Jim has had some wonderful horses to work with including some of Australasia's most valuable stallions, among which were five times champion Australian sire Delville Wood, one who transferred from neighbouring Kia Ora stud.
Alabama had the first motorised horse transporter in the Upper Hunter and, accompanied by Jim Bowcock, was used to transfer an icon of Australian racing, Ajax, back and forth from the St Aubins stud at Scone and Widden in the Widden Valley.
Winner of 18 top races in succession, Ajax stood alternate seasons at the two studs. He was a big loss to racing and breeding when he was sent to America at 14.
Jim sold Alabama in 2006, moved into Scone to live and dabbled in breeding in a very small way. One of the last horses he has bred has been Youthful Jack, now winner of 15 races, second or third ten times and earner of $835,250 following his Tasmanian stakes successes this month, appearances at Launceston on February 1 and then on the Hobart Cup program last Sunday. Cessnock's record setting jockey Robert Thompson flew down and rode him in the two Tasmanian outings.
Trained in Tasmania by Adam Trinder, but in all his mainland outings by one of his two owners, Ross Stitt of Taree, NSW, Youthful Jack included in his earlier wins the Group 2 AJC Royal Sovereign Stakes and four Listed events in Brisbane.
Stitt picked him up as a yearling for $5,500 at the 2006 Inglis Christmas Sydney Thoroughbred sale, a low price, but an improvement on the $1,800 he realised earlier that year at the mixed day of the Scone sales. On the same day at Scone, Youthful Jack's dam Formative sold empty for only $300.
A mare whose five starts included a second at Ipswich and a fourth of ten at the Gold Coast, Formative was bred by Jim Bowcock using White Bridle, an American bred half-brother by Seattle Slew to the exalted Dynaformer, who stood briefly at the Alabama stud. Dynaformer is one of the best sires in America and includes among his progeny 2010 Melbourne Cup winner Americain.
Youthful Jack is the best of three winners bred by Bowcock from Formative, but she is also dam of Trialling, a Beautiful Crown filly which astute Scone breeder Russ Lazarus, owner of the boutique Sutton Farm, bought for $5,000 at Scone. She has a three-quarter yearling sister to Youthful Jack by Youthful Legs in the paddock at Sutton Farm.
Lazarus is a principal in the syndicate which owns the handsome American bred Youthful Legs, a sire who stood briefly also at Alabama, but who in recent years has been at Steve Miller's Erin Park stud near Tamworth, NSW. A close relation to Danehill, his progeny have had restricted access to city and provincial stables, but his 166 winners also include stakes performers Get Up (11 wins to Group 3), Malta (14 wins) and Sutton Review, and also Hexy Legs (13 wins), Sutton Friend (11), Sir Redford (11), Adhemar (12) and Youthful Edition (12).
Youthful Legs is starting to make an impact as a broodmare sire, including among the offspring the Russ Lazarus bred and raced Sutton Princess (by Olympus, 9 wins, $159,530) and Sutton Queen (Beautiful Crown, 5 wins, 5 seconds in 14 starts). Olympus, a Danehill at Erin Park, and Beautiful Crown a successful American importation resident at Patinack Farm, are owned by syndicates including Lazarus and Jim Bowcock's son Andrew. - Brian Russell Media
