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Hawk Horse
H A W K E S B U R Y R A C E C L U B
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S U M M E R 2 0 1 8
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!
The Hawk Horse | Summer 2018
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”.
The Hawk Horse | Summer 2018
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.
The Hawk Horse | Summer 2018
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.
The Hawk Horse | Summer 2018
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 Hawk Horse | Summer 2018
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)
The Hawk Horse | Summer 2018
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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The Hawk Horse | Summer 2018
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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The Hawk Horse | Summer 2018
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
The Hawk Horse | Summer 2018
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.
The Hawk Horse | Summer 2018
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.
The Hawk Horse | Summer 2018
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.
The Hawk Horse | Summer 2018
PAT'S EXPRESS DELIVERY FOR DARBY
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B O O K N O W Racecourse Road - Clarendon | 4577 2263 | admin@hawkraces.com
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