hawkhorse summer2018 - hawkesbury raceshawkesburyraceclub.com.au › assets ›...

Hawk Horse

H A W K E S B U R Y R A C E C L U B

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A B R I G H T F U T U R E O F T R A I N I N G A T H A W K E S B U R Y

F R O M C H R I S T M A S J I N G L E S T O A

B A C K Y A R D B A S H

T H E J O U R N E Y O F A P P R E N T I C E

J O C K E Y Q I N Y O N G

PolyTrack

Work Begins

Summer Racing

Heats Up

Made In

China

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Here's the hotly anticipated second edition of

Hawkesbury Race Club's seasonal newsletter -

The Hawk Horse!

We received a fantastic response from our pilot

issue in Spring and now proudly present more

stories, function reports and glamorous shots from

around our course.

As expected, November exploded with Melbourne

Cup fever and the focus of the global racing

fraternity fell to the Australian industry - a

fascination with the Spring Racing carnival that

Hawkesbury warmly embraced!

From Ladies Day to Australia Day, and with our

exceptional PolyTrack now well under

construction, our team will shift the focus to our

feature meetings of the Autumn, the Provincial

Championships Qualifier and Stand Alone

Saturday.

Stay Tuned!

The Hawk Horse | Summer 2018

ABOVE | The Mitchell Kearney-trained STORM MASTER is hosed after winning at

Hawkesbury on December 17 during the Christmas Party Race Days.

BELOW | GODUNOV, a classy colt trained by Gerald Ryan, enjoys a drink after winning

on debut on December 17. The colt is potentially ATC Derby bound this Autumn.

keep in

touch...

We'll admit it, we love sharing our racing and events with our

followers! Snapping away on race day keep our three social media

feeds filtered and festive - like the lovely Fashions on the Field

winners from our Ladies Day pictured above!

Make sure you are following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram,

using the #HawkesburyHorses - to share your own experiences on

course - at the races, at a party, or at our fabulous motel!


ABOVE | The field swings for home in the final race on January

24, the RAAF Richmond BM65. LETTER TO JULIETTE (yellow cap)

was the resounding winner for Tye Angland and Garry White.

meet the team behind #TheHawkHorse

Georgie Beresford

georgie@hawkraces .com

THE CHIEF

Greg Rudolph

greg@hawkraces .com

EDITED BY

Lea Porteous

lea@hawkraces .com

CRUCIAL CONTRIBUTORS

With grateful thanks to

John Curtis

Bradley Photographers

Emmerge Photography

Lisa Taylor & Alison Weir

BUSINESS MANAGER

Groundbreaking first

steps down a new track

An ordinarily warm morning in

December saw the first dozers and

construction vehicles from Abax

Contracting roll in, who began the

process of transforming the aged sand

track, to the inside of the grass course

proper used for racing, into an all-

weather surface of the future.

Few walks of the track have been more

exciting for veteran track manager Jeff

Haynes and Chief Greg Rudolph than the

first shoe prints that were embedded in

the new sand in these past few months.

“The first truck crossed the course proper

in early December and the workers were

slick before the Christmas Break to

ensure the preparation was well

underway” said Rudolph.

The work soon recommenced into the

New Year to maintain an expected

completion in mid-April, before the

club’s signature Stand Alone Saturday

race meeting on April 28.

“The latest works will focus on the

existing sand track being widened, with

fences now dismantled and the old sand

being moved and stockpiled for

alternative use on our existing sand

circuits.

“From there, the drainage and base-layer

works will be constructed and hopefully

completed by mid-March”.


ABOVE | Abax Construction dozers and diggers are hard at work to

remove the existing sand track on the inside of the course proper.

The rejuvenated vision of the club

to introduce a state of the art

training track for Hawkesbury

took the first step towards its

realisation with works on the

PolyTrack officially beginning

before Christmas.

A plan for the synthetic surface was submitted to

Racing NSW ten years prior, with investigations into

the suitability of both the Hawkesbury grounds

and base material leading to the decision to

construct a PolyTrack, a subsidiary of Martin Collins

International, being reached in 2016.


ABOVE | Trial runners cross the old sand track that will

now become the wider PolyTrack circuit.

The Australian Turf Club has since installed a PolyTrack

at the home of night racing, Canterbury Park, in

anticipation of internationally-trained horses utilising

the course for preparations when in quarantine for

Sydney’s leading race meetings, The Championships

during the Autumn and The Everest during the Spring.

Yet domestic trainers have already firmly embraced the

track for use all year round, regardless of carnival

pressure.

“Feedback from leading trainers and jockeys has been

exceptionally positive, and the Gai Waterhouse and

Adrian Bott team in particular have been impressed

with how the surface handles the vigorous training

regimes of the metropolitan area”.

The alliance with Abax Contracting, who prepared the

PolyTrack in use at Godolphin’s stunning Osbourne Park

training base in Agnes Banks, has also created a new

sponsorship opportunity for the Club.

“Abax will be sponsoring a race on another of our

feature race days, the Provincial Championships, on

March 10” said Rudolph.

With the PolyTrack well on schedule, commitments to

build 50 on-course stables will further enhance the

club’s commitment to providing outstanding training

facilities fit for a Provincial Club of the future.

It’s bringing our Club into

the next phase of

development, being a

significant investment and

allowing us to further host

horses from the leading

metropolitan stables in

providing a safe and flexible

environment for training .

CHIEF EXECUTIVE GREG RUDOLPH

Cummings’ victory with Irish import Duca Valentinois in

the Listed Lander Toyota Ladies Day Cup (1400m)

followed earlier wins with dominant favourite Seine Net

and another import, Beijing Board.

Duca Valentinois, a 6YO gelding by Holy Roman

Emperor, added a second stakes win and another 'cup'

to his resume, following the 2017 Scone Cup.

Jason Collett claimed another feature Hawkesbury

success with a superb ride on the import, giving him

time to settle and then bringing him from last

approaching the home turn to burst between runners in

the centre of the track.

Collett partnered Fabrizio when he won the $200,000

Group 3 Livamol Hawkesbury Gold Cup (1600m) in April.

Duca Valentinois ($5.50) powered home to beat $3.50

favorite Passage of Time and local mare Unequivocal

($31), who was placed in the race for the second year in

a row, having been runner-up to stablemate Famous

Seamus (now retired) in 2016.


Despite the strong show of blue, Scott Singleton, Brad

Widdup and Mitch Newman proudly flew the flag for

the locals.

Singleton bagged a double – the first leg with a

favorite and the other with a roughie – and Widdup

and Newman each chipped in with a victory.

Singleton scored with Concessions ($2 favorite) and

Poet’s Advocate ($26), Widdup with second favorite

Junglized ($2.40) and Newman with $17 chance Final

Impulse.

Jason Collett

Duca Valentinois

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The might of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed's global racing operation Godolphin was in full force on Ladies

Day, with head trainer James Cummings clinching a treble, including the $150,000 feature event.


The highlight of Hawkesbury's Spring was

Lander Toyota Ladies Day, the gorgeously

glamorous meeting held on Oaks Day in

November.

With an impressive haul of prizes on offer for

the Skin Fitness Fashions on the Field,

including a Hamilton Island Getaway, men

and women donned their best attire despite

a warm day and guest judges surveyed over

20 heats to find their winners.

Ladies

Day

Fashions on the

Field Winners

WOMEN'S CONTEMPORARY (above, left to right) FIRST Kate Lynch SECOND Ursula Doolan THIRD Leanne Galea

WOMEN'S CLASSIC (Below, left to right) FIRST Tanya Lazarou SECOND Stacey Roberts THIRD Alex Wilson

BEST DRESSED MALE Neil Carpenter (left)


It was the luck of the Irish that stole the nation’s great

race on the first Tuesday of November, and the

joviality of the Emerald Isle was in full swing for the

club’s first Melbourne Cup Luncheon to celebrate a

milestone for both Flemington and Hawkesbury.

Over 150 people donned hats and suits in the Ted

McCabe Function Centre, joining the nationwide

hysteria of one of Australia’s largest sporting events

amongst the fitting scenery of the Hawkesbury

course.

With wait staff in jockey silks and tables named after

past winners, the Cup was but one of the highlights of

the afternoon, with a guest appearance from one of

the all time great riders in Malcolm Johnston

(pictured below) providing both critical insight into

the Sport of Kings and as always, a well received dash

of quirk.

Supporting his cheshire cat grin and flawless wit,

Johnston recalled the relationship with three-time

Cox Plate immortal Kingston Town, fittingly just a

week following the record-equalling feat of Australia’s

current darling of the turf, Winx.

Naturally, the comparisons to Winx came fast, but

Johnston maintained both horses deserved the praise

of racing's critics as equally important thoroughbred

idols.

With a scramble of sweeps and tab tickets littering

the tables the gruelling staying test at 3pm rewarded

backers of Rekindling, trained by 24-year-old Joseph

O’Brien, with a hearty victory at the odds of 15/1. It was

the sixth win in the race for millionaire owner Llyod

Williams, who owned the quinella with a horse

trained by Joseph's father Aidan, Johannes Vermeer,

gapping the remainder of the field in second.

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Excess proceeds from the Cup sweeps were donated to Father Chris Riley’s Youth Off The Streets foundation, who recently painted a stunning mural on course. The colourful

design (pictured above) situated behind the Clarendon Brasserie, was a collaborative project completed by

students from Father Riley’s school who majored in art.

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For Qin Yong, a native of China who had arrived in Australia

just six months prior, the prospect of beginning his journey

amongst Hawkesbury’s humble fraternity of horseman was

an occasion to behold.

“I was so excited leading up to this day, and just so grateful

to everyone who has helped me get here” he said following

the trial.

The politely spoken and fresh faced 28-year-old has been

sponsored by the leading racing conglomerate, the China

Horse Club, to begin riding in Australia following a short

stint in Barbados in July last year. Yong enrolled in the

Australian Racing and Equine Academy trackwork riding

course under the watchful eye of Academy educators

Tommy Peters and Tracey O’Hara, based nearby in

Richmond, and soon began riding work for leading trainer

Brad Widdup.

“I’m really enjoying my training here so far,” he said. “The

teachers have been very helpful and I hope it will lead to

me riding in races here in Australia.”

Tim Miller, manager at China Horse Club, has praised the

enthusiasm of Yong and believes he will entice further

interest from China amongst the booming relations

between Australian and Chinese bloodstock enterprises.

ABOVE | Qin Yong returns to the mounting yard after his

first trial on the Widdup-trained HANOVER SQUARE.

“Qin is our first and in the future we certainly hope to bring

more Chinese participants over here to further their training

and education,” Miller said.

“And, not just jockeys, but other members of the industry such

as veterinarians and other participants who would certainly

benefit from our industry.

“He’s a very confident rider and we know that he will do well,

he really loves his training at Richmond and he is going

through his gears pretty quickly."

Yong exudes strength in the saddle yet reserves any praise of

his blossoming riding career for those who train him. When

eagerly watching the remaining trials from the stands on a late

December morning, it was easy to see the young man had

found his passion.

Although there are

thousands of words

from the bottom of

my heart, I just

want to say four :

Gratitude, Positivity,

Realisation and

Contribution .

QIN YONG

The expression on the young jockey’s face

was etched with excitement and relief as he

guided his mount back into the enclosure

after a low-key 800m trial at Hawkesbury.

The Hawk Horse | Spring 2018

Summer racing kicked off in style with two stirring

Christmas Party Race Days during December giving

local businesses, charities and organisations a

platform to shake another year of work from the

calendar.

The halls were decked with bells and holly, Christmas

trees donned lights and traditional roast turkeys,

hams and crispy crackling overloaded guest’s plates

amongst the plethora of bon-bons and Christmas

Cards.

$500 Member’s Draws, 'Golden Tickets' in race books

and lucky losers betting ticket draws were highlights

of a dual-weekend giveaway session rewarding

regulars and newcomers to the course.

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On track, the seven races on each day were a successful hunting

ground for local trainers, with Garry White, Jason Attard and

Mitchell Kearney all featuring with winners on home turf.

An emerging trainer within the Hawkesbury ranks, Kearney was

quick to credit his wife Desiree with the win of Storm

Master (pictured with Josh Parr) on the second of the Christmas

Party Race Days.

In a tough finish, the former Victorian four-year-old outgamed

another Hawkesbury representative Legistation ($5) after the

pair had the NewOz Concreting Benchmark 65 Handicap

(1400m) to themselves all the way along the home straight.

“Our owners Peter Knight and Robyn Tatham gave us a

commission to buy them a horse, and Desiree picked this bloke

out at a Melbourne tried sale earlier in the year,” Kearney

explained.

“He had been only lightly raced, and Desiree liked him when she

saw him".

A four-year-old son of Sydney Group 1 winner Master Of Design,

Storm Master began his career with Caulfield trainer Andrew

Noblet and, at his fifth start, won a Werribee Maiden Plate

(1400m) on May 15.He was sold after failing at his next start on

the Pakenham synthetic track 10 days later.

Kearney and fellow Hawkesbury trainer Jamie Thomsen had just

returned from a brief trip to Hong Kong for the International

meeting, and said his wife and his brother Shane looked after

the team whilst he was away.

“We have got eight horses in work at present, and Desiree and

Shane did a great job working and looking after them.”

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Garry White leaned casually onto the rail as he spoke to Ben

Way from Sky Channel after the second race back at

Hawkesbury in 2018, watching his hulking giant of a gelding,

Dunatun, be led back by the pocket rocket apprentice

Ashleigh Borg on tip-toes to reach his cheek strap - the first

of a show stopping treble on the home track.

As Corey Brown unsaddled, the leading Melbourne Cup-

winning hoop flashed White a knowing grin that the veteran

Hawkesbury trainer would be standing in the winner stall

again that afternoon.

Flanked by two of the gelding’s owners, prominent

Queensland Businessmen Russell Caporn and Jeff Bentley,

White had four horses racing under his name that afternoon

and had a sense of Deja Vu approaching.

Nearly five and a half years before, on September 1 2012, East

Village, Boardwalk and Colonel Light all saluted at generous

odds at Hawkesbury in a rare three-peat for a local trainer.

White’s long-standing owner, Hobartville Stud’s Grahame

Mapp, figured in both trebles.

Mapp owned Colonel Light and also races two of the 2018

winners, Fifth Affair and Letter To Juliette (pictured

above).

The pair is about to celebrate one of racing’s most

remarkable and enduring partnerships.

“Come March 3, I will have trained for Grahame for 40

years,” said White, sipping a celebratory drink in the

Winning Owner’s bar post-race.

“It’s been a lovely game of chess,” he added.

“We’ve got a nice team of young horses in the stable at

present, so hopefully (the result) is going to be the start of

a really good year.”

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MILLION DOLLAR BABY FOR WIDDUP + JADESKYE

The team behind the Platinum Park juggernaut were

among the astonishing show of buying power at the Magic

Millions Yearling Sales on the Gold Coast in January, with

Brad Widdup and Jadeskye Racing's Damion Flower

purchasing a number of prized colts and fillies from the

record breaking blue blooded selection.

Among their purchases was the first foal of Group 1

Thousand Guineas winner Commanding Jewel, by boom

stallion I Am Invincible, for a cool $1.45 Million.

The colt, consigned by Vinery Stud, was joined by a further

six horses for Widdup and Jadeskye - including progeny of

champion stallions Sebring, More Than Ready, another I

Am Invincible filly and two colts by Flower's own first

season sire sensation Rubick.

The yearlings will be visiting Platinum Park soon for

educational visits and are likely to be aimed at the lucrative

2YO Classic in January 2019 - following a similar path to

Widdup & Jadeskye's 2018 runner Witherspoon.

GRASS IS GREENER FOR HAWKESBURY TRAINER


With #HawkesburyHorses racing throughout the

Christmas and New Year period, and often travelling far

to country tracks across NSW 7 days a week, it has been

no surprise to see so many local trainers reaping the

rewards of hard work.

It was a trip to Bathurst that provided Peter Green with

his first professional victory as a thoroughbred trainer.

Green, well known in harness racing circles in NSW,

Western Australia and New Zealand, won the Maiden

Handicap (1300m) with Hard Spun gelding Respun.

Green may be a newcomer to the thoroughbred training

ranks, but he is an experienced horseman.

He took out his standardbred trainer-driver’s licence

when he was 16, and had plenty of success in NSW and

New Zealand before working as a harness steward in

NSW and WA.

Green took on training thoroughbreds toward the end of

2016, and his breakthrough win came at the annual

Bong Bong Picnic meeting last November when

successful with Prime Justice in a Class 1/Maiden Plate

(2300m).

THE NUTMAN KNACK

INGS FAMILY A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH

There were celebrations all round when Hawkesbury four-

year-old Whanau Force (pictured left) cracked it for his first

win at Port Macquarie on January 13.

Prepared by Wanda Ings and ridden by her apprentice

daughter Chelsea, $13 chance Whanau Force outsped his

rivals in the Maiden Plate (1206m) for colts, geldings and

entires. Making the breakthrough all the more memorable

was that Whanau Force was bred by a former member of

Ings’ Hawkesbury team, Joel Elers, and he was broken in by

her daughter.

“Joel was working for me at the time when he bought a

mare (Frilly Milly), who was in foal to Oamaru Force (a

former smart Melbourne sprinter who also won The Shorts

on the Kensington track at Randwick in 2001),” Wanda Ings

explained this morning.

“Chelsea broke Whanau Force in, so it was a big thrill for her

to then win on him yesterday.

“Joel is now a foreman for Peter and Paul Snowden at

Randwick and it was lovely to win with this horse for Joel

and his family.

“I train Whanau Force out of a paddock. He has a good yard

with a shelter and, being a big bulky horse, seems to enjoy

not being stabled.”

Meanwhile fellow Hawkesbury-trainer

Richard Nutman kept the winnings in the

family at Wyong earlier in January at Wyong,

with lightly-raced Kathaire (pictured right)

steamrolling her rivals in the

Maiden Plate over 1200m.

She was ridden by his daughter Claire and is

raced by his parents W.J. (John) and Dell,

who were both on course

to celebrate the victory.

John Nutman, a former long-serving director

of Hawkesbury Race Club, was afforded life

membership in 1996 for his outstanding

contribution to the provincial club.

To put the icing on the cake for the Nutman

family, Claire’s fiancé, jockey Chad Lever,

made a successful return from a serious

injury by winning the opening race

at Wyong on odds-on favorite Auerbach.


FILLIES TO FOLLOW Known for handling a selection of the most expensive and

regally-bred young horses in the country, Team Hawkes

have often produced runners of the highest calibre for a

"low-key" debut at Hawkesbury en route to bigger and

better races.

This trend continued when Hawkes presented Ballet Rose

(left), a three-year-old daughter of champion stallion

Exceed and Excel from the blue-hen mare Nureyev's Girl, for

a dazzling first start performance.

A $420,000 Inglis Easter purchase for Vinery Stud from the

Bhima Thoroughbreds draft, Ballet Rose is a three-quarter

sister to Group I winner King's Rose (now at stud in Japan)

and Group II winner Hardham.

She is the sixth winner from seven foals to race from stakes-

placed Nureyev's Girl, who comes from the family of Group I

winner Anabandana.

Fellow Hawkes filly Tarabai (right, in yellow) made headlines at

our January meeting with a hard-fought victory at her first start.

The striking bay filly is the fourth foal of listed winner Baby Corn,

making her a half-sister to the G1 Blue Diamond & ATC Sires'

Produce Stakes placegetter Cornrow (by Duporth).

Racing in the familiar colours of Laurel Oak Bloodstock, the filly

was ridden by Brenton Avdulla, denying the Godolphin filly

Eschara; herself a daughter of former gun 2YO filly Altar.

Tarabai is by Darley's resident Golden Slipper winner Sepoy, who

is starting to hit his straps having sired his first Group 1 winner

this season with Alizee taking the Flight Stakes at Randwick.


It may have taken Stella Victoria a little more time to break

her maiden, yet the filly couldn't have been more

impressive in weaving between runners to score over

1500m at start number eleven.

A homebred for prominent breeders Wilf and Rosemary

Mula, Stella Victoria is named after the couple's

granddaughters who watched the race live from Brazil!

Trained by David Payne, the daughter of Foxwedge settled

at the rear of the field before unleashing a powerful burst of

sustained speed to draw away for Adam Hyeronimus.

Mula's distinctive Pink and Black spotted silks were made

famous by Champion 3YO colt Flying Artie, along with

stakes winners French Fern, Kentucky Miss and Dublin Lass.

Darby Racing may be gearing up for the return of their

superstar filly She Will Reign this month, but the successful

syndication team had reason to celebrate early with

Postmaster General (pictured) burning the turf for a

popular first up victory after 17 weeks in the paddock.

Known affectionately as "Pat" after the children's character

Postman Pat, the Mark Newnham-trained gelding was sent

straight to the front by Josh Parr and easily accounted for

his rivals, coasting home by two lengths in a slick time

of 55.99s for the 1000m dash.

"Pat" was one of two winners on January 24 for emerging

trainer Mark Newnham, with Cyrus Rocks taking the

opening event, also ridden by Josh Parr.

Newnham has now trained five winners this season at

Hawkesbury from limited runners, to be within the top five

trainers among James Cummings, Team Hawkes and

former master Gai Waterhouse.


PAT'S EXPRESS DELIVERY FOR DARBY

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B O O K N O W Racecourse Road - Clarendon | 4577 2263 | [email protected]

W W W . H A W K E S B U R Y R A C E C L U B . C O M . A U

Saturday 10 March

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