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It’s closing on three years since Two Big Fari’s last win and that’s not lost on trainer Todd Howlett who sees Sunday’s $40,000 Three Rivers Machinery Case IH Narromine Cup (1600m) as something of a crossroad.
November 2020, at Rosehill, was the eight-year-old's latest success and while he's run some big races in city company in the interim Todd Howlett said he elected to head to Narromine seeking a confidence boost for the horse and himself.
"It's been a while since he's won, he's got a bit of weight but he should be up to them,'' Howlett said.
"He probably was racing a bit better last year but off his work he's going well and we just need to see it on the track.
"His last run wasn't that bad. He doesn't need to find a lot of ground that's how I see it."
Two Big Fari, $4 favourite with TAB on Saturday, was beaten 1.6 lengths by Sweysive on the Kensington track just over two weeks ago and he carried 59kg in the Benchmark 72. After Madeline Owen's claim he'll have 61.5kg at Narromine.
Howlett said he's done his best to freshen up Two Big Fari's mind off the track by changing up his work.
"My place has a bit of bushland out the back, I've got a few jumps and a few times a week we take him out over there and do that sort of work,'' he said.
"He's responding to it, he's quite fresh and well in himself. I want to give him and me a bit of confidence.
"He's been a great horse and he tries his heart out and I wouldn't do it to him if I thought he wasn't trying."
Howlett plans to give Two Big Fari one more shot to put himself in the Big Dance picture by heading to next month's Dubbo Cup but he stresses the horse's performance at Narromine is critical.
The gelding ran second in the Dubbo Cup a year ago, and third in the Big Dance Wild Card, before a gallant fifth in the Little Dance – that's the form Howlett wants him to be in.
"We will be pretty forward and probably following the leaders,'' he said.
"The plan is to go to Dubbo but those Big Dance lead up races have got pretty hard."
Meanwhile, Howlett said his promising four-year-old Tanglewood is not far from returning to the stable after a short break and is looking forward to seeing where he can go through his summer preparation.
Tanglewood was a dominant winner at Taree and Grafton in June and July before luck deserted him when a short priced favourite at Canterbury on July 26.
"He's had a few weeks out and will come back next week. It didn't work out for him the other day, he got caught out wide, but he's a nice horse,'' he said.
