By Kobie O'Brien
Cult hero Fab’s Cowboy will be looking to be the first cab off the rank for a second year in-a-row when he tackles the 2019 TAB Battle Of The Bush Gladstone Qualifier Open Sprint Plate over 1194m on Saturday.
The now seven-year-old was sent out as a $1.30 shot in his first attempt at qualifying at Cunnamulla 12 months ago, with connections hoping it will be a repeat performance where he sat on pace and proved far too strong at the business end.
One year, six wins and a near-miss in the Country Cup Final later, ‘The Cowboy’ is in arguably career best form.
He'll be shooting for 4 wins in-a-row when he revisits the track in which he was a 12-length winner last time out, in a record breaking time of 1:10.61 under set-weights conditions.
Fab’s Cowboy has drawn the extreme outside however it seems as though he can win from anywhere in this point in time, missing the start at Goondiwindi last time out before lapping the field and drawing 9 of 10 in the start prior at Roma, streaking away to an easy 1.25 length victory in the end.
With an underwhelming performance in last years final at Doomben, Fab’s Cowboy will be looking for an improved performance when he meets a number of finalists from last year’s series with Stellar Knight, Exstratum and Canid among acceptances.
The competition is hot on paper with the flying Bel Seleva, Tom Button’s Mystic Forces and track specialist Al’s Briefs in the mix with the much anticipated result of this race proving very interesting in regards to form around each of the runners heading into the next qualifiers.
Fab’s Cowboy finished 14th of 16 in last year’s edition of the Battle Of The Bush final however should he come out of on top this Saturday a different Cowboy is sure to ride in to town come July.