Bjron Baker’s The Everest performer Overpass is tipped to return to winning form when he heads west for the Winterbottom Stakes 2023 in Perth this weekend.

The five-year-old son of Vancouver was excellent at the Ascot track back in mid-April when scoring a narrow upset over local champ Amelia’s Jewel in the inaugural $4 million The Quokka race.

He returns looking for another feature race victory in WA this Saturday lining-up as the $3 favourite through Ladbrokes.com.au in the Group 1 $1.5 million Winterbottom Stakes (1200m).

Overpass has had three runs since his Quokka success most recently on October 14 in the $20 million The Everest (1200m).

He ran 10^th in this year’s edition of the world’s richest turf race but was only four lengths off the winner Think About It.

This weekend presents an easier assignment and he is expected to run well fresh.

Despite a capacity Winterbottom Stakes field just two other runners are currently at single-figures for the win with the Luke Fernie-trained Ripcord ($6.50) and the rails-drawn Triple Missile ($6.50) tipped as the dangers.

Written By gelding Ripcord is out to be the first three-year-old Winterbottom Stakes winner since Hardrada back in 2002.

There is money for him to break the three-year-old’s drought after his last start win in the List”ed Placid Ark Stakes (1200m) on November 18.

He carried 56.5kg that day from barrier 14 of 14 and is down to 54.5kg with a favourable barrier seven draw for jockey Clint Johnston-Porter in this weekend’s major.

Soon to retire hoop Damien Oliver is after a fairy tale in the Winterbottom drawn barrier one on Triple Missile for trainer Lindsey Smith.

The Winterbottom will be Oliver’s penultimate Group 1 ride before he hangs up the saddle with one more to go aboard the Waterhouse & Bott-trained Zoumon in Saturday week’s Northerly Stakes also in Perth.

His Winterbottom mount presents in good form with Triple Missile having run second in the Group 2 Gilgai Stakes (1200m) two back.

The horse was only a length off Spacewalk when sixth in a blanket finish at Flemington in the Group 3 Rising Fast Stakes on November 4 and has a stellar Ascot track record (7:4-1-0).

Other notable Winterbottom hopes include Oscar’s Fortune ($10) to be ridden by William Pike, the Lou Luciani-trained Hot Zed, and Neville Parnham’s Snowdome ($13) with an outside alley to overcome.

Oscar’s Fortune is another in-form three-year-old looking to beat home the older horses.

The Dion Luciani-trained Rich Enuff gelding won his opening four career starts before a narrow loss when second to Ripcord in the Placid Ark.

Hot Zed brings in the confidence of a last start victory with the autumn’s The Quokka fifth place-getter having saluted here on November 18 in the Group 3 Colonel Reeves Stakes (1100m) in an upset.

Trainer Neville Parnham took out the Group 2 WA Guineas – Group 1 Railway Stakes double at last Saturday’s meeting and is looking to continue his good carnival with Snowdome in the Winterbottom.

The Rommel four-year-old comes off a win at the track when carting 58.5kg to victory in the Group 3 Prince Of Wales Stakes (1000m) on November 4.

The Winterbottom Stakes 2023 is set to run as Ascot Race 9 on Saturday with full markets from Ladbrokes.com.au available by clicking here.

2023 Winterbottom Stakes Final Field & Barrier Draw

No	Last 10	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Barrier	Weight	Penalty	Hcp Rating
1	6690x12x20	OVERPASS	Bjorn Baker	Joshua Parr	11	58.5kg		113
2	x22630x136	RED CAN MAN	Steve Wolfe	Paul Harvey	10	58.5kg		107
3	x110x3230x	SAVATOXL	Will Savage	Ms Holly Watson	8	58.5kg		106
4	6x7156x371	HOT ZED	Lou Luciani	Jason Whiting	2	58.5kg		107
5	11340x473x	RESORTMAN	Michael Lane	Brad Rawiller	9	58.5kg		107
6	x3043x0x40	LAVERROD	Sean & Jake Casey	Jordan Turner	15	58.5kg		101
7	x3113132x1	SNOWDOME	Neville Parnham	Chris Parnham	18	58.5kg		100
8	11x42x7x26	TRIPLE MISSILE	Lindsey Smith	Damien Oliver	1	58.5kg		100
9	46x2x11328	PHANTA	Chris & Michael Gangemi	Brad Parnham	17	58.5kg		101
10	221x5244x8	CLEMENCEAU	Chris & Michael Gangemi	Jarrad Noske	14	58.5kg		95
11	552150×529	MAN CRUSH	Luke Fernie	Michael Poy	12	58.5kg		90
12	1x353x4484	GO FORWARD	Chris & Michael Gangemi	Laqdar Ramoly	6	58.5kg		82
13	x1159x5255	MY BELLA MAE	Dion Luciani	Patrick Carbery	5	56.5kg		99
14	x1336541x6	FLYING MISSILE	Neville Parnham	Steven Parnham	3	56.5kg		88
15	13×2281	RIPCORD	Luke Fernie	Clint Johnston-Porter	7	54.5kg		86
16	11112	OSCAR’S FORTUNE	Dion Luciani	William Pike	13	54.5kg		84
17e	213421234x	CORN COB	Julia Martin	Austin Galati	16	58.5kg		84
18e	135×231182	VALENCY	Robyn Lockwood		4	56.5kg		78

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

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