Hawkes bullish about 2-year-old
Co-trainer Michael Hawkes is confident promising colt Hilal (Fastnet Rock) can land the thick end of the stake in Saturday’s G1 Inglis Sires’ Produce S.
“He is going well and the Sires' looks like the right race for him, it’s right up his alley,” he told Racenet.
Hilal has won one of his last three starts and got home well for seventh in the G3 Pago Pago S. over 1200 metres at his most recent appearance.
Hilal (white cap) | Image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
“We can’t fault him at the moment. He was ready for the 1400 metres (after the Pago Pago) when he drew a wide barrier and had to go back,” Hawkes said.
“From there he has had to make up 8l and has only been beaten 1.5l so if he draws a barrier he wins.”
Star’s brother welcomed
Matthew Smith-prepared Fierce Impact (Jpn) to win multiple Group 1 events before the son of Deep Impact (Jpn) was retired to begin the second stage of his career in 2021 at Leneva Park.
The Warwick Farm trainer has now welcomed an appropriate replacement with the arrival of Fierce Impact’s brother Keiai Nautique (Jpn).
Matthew Smith and Fierce Impact (Jpn)
“They reached out to us to see if we would take him. I think they are thinking the other horse did so well and he (Keiai Nautique) lost a bit of form up in Japan, so they thought maybe send him to Australia and see how he goes, a change of scenery,” Smith told Racing.com.
Keiai Nautique has failed to recapture his best form that saw him land the G1 Tokyo Mile Cup in 2018 and hasn’t raced since he finished well back in the G3 Nippon Sho Kyoto Kimpai in January.
Quick return
OTI Racing and Bloodstock’s investment in Aesop (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) earned an immediate return when he won first-time out in its colours in Ireland at the weekend.
OTI purchased the Jessica Harrington-trained 4-year-old since his last outing and off an eight-month break he successfully resumed over 2000 metres at Cork for rider Shane Foley.
"He has physically developed into himself and had a gelding operation over the winter and that has helped him," Harrington’s daughter Kate told Racing TV.
"Shane (Foley) said that's his minimum distance and he was only doing his best work at the end. He is exciting and one for those staying handicaps going forward."
Parkes doubles tally
Another cool, calm and collected effort aboard star juvenile On The Bubbles (Brazen Beau) at Awapuni saw jockey Johnathan Parkes register his second Group 1 victory for the season when the pair combined to take out the Manawatu Sires’ Produce S.
The elite-level success came hard off the back of a win with Ocean Billy (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}) in the G1 Auckland Cup with the Central Districts-based Parkes delighted to repay the faith placed in him by the northern trainers.
Johnathan Parkes | Image courtesy of Race Images
“Hopefully, I’m established enough now to be thought of for taking rides in the bigger races, although it is still nice when the phone rings with an offer,” Parkes said.
“I’ve built up a good rapport with Jamie Richards and David Ellis and they have been very good to me in offering me rides on horses like On The Bubbles. He has been a very good horse to me this season with his win on Saturday and in the Karaka Million.
“He is tough and very professional which makes my job so much easier.”
Lengthy ban for jockey
Jockey Samuel Payne has been suspended for six months after testing positive to a banned substance at Ballarat trackwork last month.
He was one of three suspended with trackwork riders Nicole McKechnie and Selim Agbal also providing positive tests.
Payne pleaded guilty having provided a sample of his urine, which was found on analysis to contain a banned substance. His suspension started on March 24 and will end at midnight on September 24.
McKechnie was suspended from track riding for six weeks and Agbal was suspended for four months.
Meeting transferred
Tuesday’s Casino meeting has been transferred to Grafton due to track conditions and an unhelpful forecast.
The Casino surface was a Heavy 10 on Monday with the forecast of more rain to follow so the decision was made to transfer to Grafton.
Rabada hits rivals for six
A chance conversation one evening with good mate and former New Zealand cricket captain Brendon McCullum saw trainer Graeme Richardson put his money where his mouth was, taking a share in a Per Incanto (USA) colt bred by McCullum, that he liked the look of.
Richardson’s faith in the now 3-year-old gelding named Rabada (NZ) was vindicated on Easter Monday with a gritty maiden victory at Tauranga, at just his second start, that augurs well for his future prospects.
Rabada (NZ)
“He was very, very good and the way he went to the line, I think there is more in store for him,” said Richardson, who trains in partnership with Rogan Norvall.
“I was talking with Brendon and his wife Ellissa one night and told him I really liked the horse. He told me I should do something about it, so I took a share in him and he now races for Brendon and me.”
Unbeaten run continues
Lei Papale (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), undefeated in five previous appearances, relished the Soft going in the 2000 metre G1 Osaka Hai at Hanshin on Sunday, defeating several well-hyped Group 1 winners including 2020 Japanese Triple Crown winner Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}).
The Carrot Farm colour-bearer is just the third horse in JRA history to claim a Group 1 title for older horses unbeaten after Fine Motion (Ire) (Danehill {USA}) in 2002 and Chrysoberyl (Jpn) (Gold Allure {Jpn}) in 2019.
Sent off as the fourth choice at 11-one, the bay was a touch slowly away, but soon skipped up to the head of the field and stayed on strongly to beat Mozu Bello (Jpn) (Deep Brillante {Jpn}), who flashed home for second.
