FAQFAQ      RegisterRegisterLog inLog in



 
        RACING FORUM >> sour grapes ??
Author Message
Dice



View user's profile

Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 4:02 am

a bit old news but I thought the Europeans may like to read these comments from Wayne Hawkes, son of John Hawkes.

//Time to Sheikh things up
Posted by Wayne Hawkes - Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:48
tweet0EmailPrintThe French have taken away our Melbourne Cup again and hopefully that victory will finally inspire Godolphin to bring their best horses out for the race next year.

If I hear one more time that Sheikh Mohammad is coming and they are bringing out their best horses and are having a serious assault on the Melbourne Cup ... Tell them to bring their best horses next year, not second stringers.

They always say they are coming and they are serious, but they always bring the B-graders, they never seem to bring their A-graders. This year Lost in the Moment did alright and finished sixth, but their other horse Modun, finished last.

They are the biggest stable in the world and have been coming out here for years and all they have managed in three seconds.

I wish they wouldn't mess around, set their best horse for 2012 and bring him out here.

I wouldn't say it's flat because the overseas raiders have won the Cup, but if it's a local winner, there is more publicity. They get on more TV shows, more radio. There's more fanfare after the races if an Aussie wins it I think.

The French just pack up and go home. The biggest minus for me is that they take the $3.5 million prizemoney and go home and it doesn't stay in our industry. If a local wins it, well they can re-invest back in and it doesn't happen in that instance.

You had to feel for the connections of Red Cadeaux, who saw their horse beaten by the smallest margin in the race's long history.

I'd rather get beaten a length than get beaten by the proverbial bob of the head. So near for so far, and it's a bit cruel. It's like getting beaten one one-hundredths of a second in the 100m sprint.

Our horse Niwot had every chance. Everything went to plan and we wouldn't have changed it. He tried hard and ran as best as he could.

Because he won the Lexus, he is now qualified for the Melbourne Cup for next year. If it got to this time next year, I wouldn't run him on Derby Day. I'd probably run him in the Moonee Valley Cup and then straight into the Melbourne Cup.

We had to roll the dice and do what we did to get him in the race and that was all fine. He's qualified for next year and we'll do it different, but at this exact time last year, everyone was telling us we had the Melbourne Cup winner for 2011 and his name was Maluckyday. Twelve months is a long time in racing.

We'll just put Niwot in the paddock and head towards the Sydney Cup with him. It's worth about $800,000. He loves wet tracks and Sydney is normally wet. We'll head there and get him ready for next year.
Reply
Back to top
Jump to: