Hugh Bowman in milestone Sandown victory

Matthews Williams is thinking of the Australian Cup after Turnitaround scored a Group Three victory at Sandown.

The Hard Spun six-year-old bounced back to winning form with a dogged win in the Eclipse Stakes on Saturday, giving jockey Hugh Bowman with his first Sandown success.

Backed from $13 into $9.50, Turnitaround scored by a neck from High Church ($21) with Lidari ($8.50) a long neck away third.

Turnitaround strung together four wins on the trot in the middle of the year and victory in the Eclipse Stakes provided the gelding with his eighth win from 34 starts, taking his prize money past $500,000.

Williams said he wasn’t sure where Turnitaround would head next but was likely to be kept for stakes races in the immediate future.

“We’ll need to have a good little think about his next run as his rating is getting up and he’s getting harder and harder to place,” Williams said.

“The way he switched off today the 2000 (metres) won’t be an issue so the Australian Cup might be in the pipeline.”

Williams said he arrived at Sandown concerned about barrier 14 but was confident the horse was in peak condition.

Bowman said it was only the third time he had ridden at Sandown Guineas meeting.