Billy Owen with Damien Oliver.
Gundagai jockey Billy Owen capped off a successful two-day carnival at the Sapphire Coast Turf Club with a highlight-reel victory in the $80,000 Bega Showcase Cup, steering Zouatica to an all-the-way win in the feature mile event on Sunday, February 1, 2026.
Owen, who had seven rides across the weekend, secured one winner on Saturday before delivering a masterful front-running performance aboard Zouatica in the Bega Cup on Sunday. The Joseph Jones Racing-trained gelding, carrying a hefty 62kg, paid around $6–$7 and held off stablemate Super Helpful (ridden by Nick Heywood) to claim the prize, earning qualification for the $3 million Big Dance later in the year.
“He wasn’t a certainty. He had to be ridden pretty well by the end of it. He had a big weight. The favourite had seven kilos less than us, so yes, that was probably the main reason,” Owen said of the win.
“Zouatica, he was the best horse in the race, but that’s why he got so much weight. I suppose they just got to take that into account. But I couldn’t have been more confident after his first up run.”
Owen described the ride: “He’s a huge horse, so the weight certainly wasn’t a worry to him. He jumped quite well and then I just let him roll to the front and pretty much just controlled the race until sort of the 700 and upped the tempo from the 700, and that was probably the winning move from the 700 to the 300 when I just sort of broke their hearts and got a bit of a break on them and he was just good enough to hold on and run through the line that last hundred for me and never really looked like he was going to get beat at any stage of the race.”
Owen estimated he has around 20 winners so far this season, with plenty of placings keeping him competitive.
“It started off pretty slow, to be honest. I had a bit of a break there at the back end of last year, and then just got back into it before Christmas, a week or two before Christmas and just riding my minimum, I’m just riding 59 kilos, so it limits my opportunities a bit more,” he explained.
“And like I said, I’ve had a bit of a slow start winners-wise, to the year. Plenty of placings, which is frustrating, but look, I had a good book over the weekend, so I was pretty confident there’d be a winner or two in there.”
With momentum building, Owen has a packed weekend ahead: rides at Albury on Thursday, Canberra on Friday, and the Tumut Cup on Saturday, where he’ll partner Gundy Guy for trainer Todd Smart.
“That would be a bit ironic if I win the Tumut Cup on Gundy Guy,” he joked.
Adding a personal highlight to the carnival, Owen met retired legend Damien Oliver, who was a special guest at Sapphire Coast. The pair posed for photos and shared stories, with Owen recalling a past connection.
“It’s funny, actually, because he was obviously a Melbourne jockey, so I never really ran into him as a rider, but he rode Single Gaze when I was strapping her. He rode Single Gaze in the three-year-old Magic Million race,” Owen said. “I know he wouldn’t remember that but I mentioned that to him and he did remember riding her, but I just said, yes, I was strapping her that day because I wasn’t riding. It’s funny how the world works.”
Owen described Oliver as “a good fellow” who stayed both nights of the carnival, providing a chance to ask questions and catch up.
As the regional racing season heats up, Owen’s form at Sapphire Coast — including the Bega Cup triumph — positions him well for further success. The South West Slopes Times will follow his progress at Tumut and beyond.
The South West Slopes Times covers an area approximately the size of Fiji in country NSW. We look after a population of more than 50,000 people with our staff servicing 7 major towns and dozens of villages with our story telling footprint.
We offer weekly print editions at $3 a copy and we also offer digital subscriptions across 3 months $30, 6 months $60 and 12 months $120.
We are one of the last truly local independent family run newspaper businesses in the state.
Contact us today to find out how we can promote your business or organisation across our huge network by emailing ads@thetimes.net.au or by calling 0413 763 216.
If you have a news tip, lead or scoop for us please make contact as we love celebrating our communities. You can contribute articles via our South West Slopes Times website.