Bush-bred Casino Kind is hoping for a fairy tale win in 2022 Big Dance

Some of Australian racing’s biggest stables will contest the inaugural $2m Big Dance at Randwick, but one country trainer is determined to ensure the loot heads straight from the big smoke to the bush this Tuesday.

Casino Kid (Reece Jones) wins at Randwick in 2021. Picture: Getty Images

Some of Australian racing’s biggest stables will contest the inaugural $2m Big Dance at Randwick, but one country trainer is determined to ensure the loot heads straight from the big smoke to the bush this Tuesday.

Muswellbrook trainer Jan Bowen is preparing to take on the big names of Gai Waterhouse, Chris Waller, James Cummings and more when she saddles up her stable weapon Casino Kid in Sydney’s newest rich spring mile.

The Big Dance was only introduced earlier this year and the field is composed of the winners or highest-rated runners-up in 25 Country Cup races, as well as a wildcard event at Randwick, held across NSW over the past 12 months.

Of the 20 runners to make the final field, 15 are stabled at prominent city or provincial stables, while five will fly the flag for NSW country trainers.

Casino Kid is one of them, after booking his place in the field via a Dubbo Cup win, and his trainer is hopeful of putting country racing up in lights.

Casino Kid’s trainer Jan Bowen. Picture: Getty Images

“If he can win, we’ve got a country jockey in Grant Buckley riding him, a country horse and a country trainer and the horse has been born and reared in the country,” Bowen says. “It would be nice to win it, a fairy-tale story, but we will do our best.”

Bowen will make the three-hour drive down from Muswellbrook to Randwick for the Big Dance.

The country conditioner has lived in the heart of NSW country horseracing territory for decades, working as part of the racing and breeding industry before taking out her trainer’s licence in 2005.

“I was working at Kia Ora Stud, doing mainly office work, when I took out my licence about 17 years ago now,” she says. “They stood about half a dozen stallions up there then.

“I bought 10 acres down at Muswellbrook racecourse and spent all my time doing it up to start training.

“I rode growing up in the pony clubs and that sort of thing, then my family moved into Muswellbrook, then I got married, had two boys and reared them.

“It wasn’t until I was 40 or 50 or something I went back to it and then began training and I still enjoy it just as much.”

Bowen has tasted city success in the past with horses like Jest Cruisin’ and Lucky Night, and now ranks Casino Kid among her better gallopers. The son of Casino Prince was bred in the Upper Hunter at a farm in Merriwa by Dan Morice, one of Bowen’s most loyal connections.

“I’ve had a few for the owners before Casino Kid came along, but it looks like he could be the best of them,” Bowen says. “He also bred a horse called Iamacrumpet; she could gallop but she had a foot problem right from the word go. I had them X-rayed before she raced and their opinion was they thought she would never race but she won a few races.

“He’s bred a few,” Bowen says of Morice, “he’s had some nice ones and some not so fast ones as well. The beauty of Casino Kid, I think he is the best-winded horse I’ve ever trained and he’s clean-legged. He’s got everything going for him.”

Casino Kid won his way into the Big Dance with a comfortable 1¼ length victory over Two Big Fari in the Dubbo Cup in September. The five-year-old followed up the performance by finishing runner-up behind leading Big Dance contender Hosier in Saturday grade on October 1 at Randwick.

Bowen has given Casino Kid a trial since then to keep him up to the mark for his grand final, and she believes he should be ready to fire in front of a big crowd in Sydney.

“I expect him to run a big race,” Bowen says. “He just needs luck with his pattern of racing but if he can see daylight at the 200m, he will be hard to beat.

“The gate won’t matter too much for him as he’s not going to be up towards the lead. You are going to need a lot of luck with 20 horses in it.”

Casino Kid drew well in barrier six for the Big Dance, which has unsurprisingly attracted a capacity field of 20, plus four emergencies.

Tuesday will be his biggest challenge to date, but Bowen is confident his best racing is still ahead of him, particularly as he gets up over more ground late in his career.

“He is going good and he is going to go better when he gets up over a bit further but he is eligible for the Big Dance so we have to go to that one first,” she says.

“Next year you will see the best of him when he is up over 1800m to 2000m. He has got better with age but a lot of races he has run in ­Sydney, he should have won.

“With his racing pattern he’s just got to have that bit of luck, but definitely he’s improved with a bit of age.”

TAB rate Casino Kid an $11 chance to win the Big Dance while Hosier ($4.80) has opened as favourite, despite drawing terribly in barrier 20.

Tuesday’s race will take place at 2.20pm, with the race set to be followed up by the $500,000 Little Dance, for horses that missed out on making the main field.