Trip rise to suit Nonconformist

As a rising nine-year-old, Nonconformist has been lightly raced with his trainer Grahame Begg still having faith in the 'old boy'. 

Nonconformist will chase his seventh career win at start number 37 when he heads to the Country Achiever Eric Musgrove (2000m), a benchmark 100 race, at Flemington on Saturday. 

It seems an eternity ago when Nonconformist had the best campaign of his career, winning the Group 3 Naturalism Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield, then running second in the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes (2000m) before chasing home Incentivise in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) during the spring of 2021. 

The gelding was away from racing for almost 12 months and campaigned in Sydney last spring before another break. 

Nonconformist's latest campaign kicked off in Adelaide with the gelding finishing fourth in the Group 3 Cummings Stakes (1600m) at Morphettville. 

Begg said Nonconformist would have a light winter campaign with the trainer still hopeful the gelding can pick up a nice race during the spring. 

"We thought he ran well in Adelaide because he was off for a fair while," Begg said. 

"We wanted to give him another run, and it was a matter of finding the right style of race. 

"This race looks a nice race for him, obviously he gets a bit of weight, but Luke Cartwright is booked to ride him, so he'll get 3kg off his back." - Grahame Begg

"It's a 2000-metre race and the way he raced in Adelaide suggested he was looking for the 2000 metres." 

With an official handicap rating of 105, Begg said it was difficult to find the right race for Nonconformist with his rating during the winter. 

"I was looking for a 2000-metre handicap as I didn't want to take him to Brisbane because of the weather. It's too unpredictable," Begg said. 

"I wanted to give him another run and then we can back him off and bring him back up for something in the spring. 

"Maybe the Coongy or something like that. He's an older horse and probably past his best, potentially, but there's still a race in him. 

"He's fit and well and the owners are happy to keep going with him at this stage." 

Nonconformist is a previous winner of the Coongy Cup, taking the race at Caulfield in 2020.