Nonconformist targeting Sydney riches in the Hill Stakes

Nonconformist had never raced in Sydney prior to this campaign, but with a plethora of Group races worth significant prize money, Grahame Begg has been happy to send his evergreen gelding north and will run in Saturday’s Group 2 Hill Stakes (1900m) at Randwick.

The eight-year-old, who has won over $2 million in prizemoney, ran first-up in the Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) when closing off for third to Buckaroo, and Begg was buoyed by that performance and the subsequent form out of it after he missed the Autumn through injury.

“Absolutely it’s a good form reference. He was ridden well and he performed very well from coming off a long layoff,” Begg said.

“Oh, look, he just had a bit of wear and tear. You know, nothing major, but just, you know, a bit of wear and tear, and so he had time out.”

“They’re very good races up there. Good prize money races and it just looked very suitable for him.”

Begg has been happy to space Nonconformist’s runs with five weeks since the Chelmsford, but brought the four-time Group winner back to Cranbourne for a 1200m jump out on the 30th of September.

“He went up and then he came back. He had a bit of a freshen up on the way back. He had a week of light exercise and sort of paddock in the day and boxed at night. So, he was sort of virtually still in training,” Begg said.

“He had a barrier trial in between over 1,200 metres at Cranbourne last Monday week and then he went, headed back up to Sydney last Thursday.”

Victorian based jockey Harry Coffey is set to partner Nonconformist again with the pair starting from barrier 5. He is a $16 chance in a market headed by Royal Patronage at $3.50, who backs up from placing in Saturday’s Group 1 Epsom Handicap (1600m).

Meanwhile, Begg was pleased with stable star Magic Time’s return at Flemington, with the mare set to follow the same path as last Spring. The Invitation on the 30th of October at Randwick is likely to be her next run before a possible Rupert Clarke Stakes defence.