The benefits of the Hawkes family’s expansive racing operation across two states were evident at Flemington on Saturday’s Finals Day, with the father-and-sons training team securing the $175,000 Taj Rossi Series Final with their charge, Marwooba.
The son of Wootton Bassett, prepared by John, Wayne, and Michael Hawkes, followed up a recent victory at Rosehill on June 13 by achieving a Listed success over 1600 metres.
This marked a successful return to Victoria for the gelding. He had previously ventured to Sydney after finishing a distant last at Geelong in his initial start for the current campaign. Wayne Hawkes highlighted the advantage of the superior weather conditions in New South Wales during this period of the year.
“He only got here yesterday and his coat looked amazing,” said Hawkes, who manages their Flemington stable. “The Sydney horses just look so much better than the Melbourne horses, just because of the weather. There’s nothing anyone could do about that, but he just got off the float and he had a pig-root and was pretty happy with himself.”
Marwooba capitalised on a well-judged run under the guidance of Melbourne’s premier jockey, Craig Williams, to defeat the $2.70 favourite, Star Of Macedon.
Williams positioned Marwooba in close proximity to the leaders, found a clear path down the straight midway, and surged forward impressively to establish a race-winning advantage. The gelding, second favourite at $3.20, prevailed by half a length, with Ko Phangan ($7) finishing a further three-quarters of a length behind Star Of Macedon in third.
This victory provided Williams with his second win of the day in juvenile races, having earlier triumphed in the $150,000 Next Generation Sprinters Series Final (1200m) aboard the $2 favourite Stars Of Dom.
Hawkes indicated that the focus would now shift to the spring carnival with Marwooba. The Group 2 Bill Stutt Stakes (1600m) at Caulfield on September 27 is a potential target, possibly leading towards the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes in Sydney.
“We’re very happy to be here in the depths of winter winning a race in July, (he’ll go) back to Sydney and have three weeks off probably, then come back into work and he might end up in a Spring Champion (Stakes). There are plenty of options for him.”
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