Hawkes Proves Two Good With Tzu Hsi, Cravings

Sun Herald

Sunday June 24, 2007

By John Schell Randwick

THE John Hawkes stable juggernaut maintained its momentum with a winning double to open the 10-race card at headquarters yesterday.

A day after the NSW Racehorse Owners' Association took aim at what it said was a 14 per cent price rise in training fees at the Hawkes stable over the past 18 months, connections of Tzu Hsi (Mick Young Scholarship Trust Handicap) and Cravings (Principle Advisory Services/ Shed Enterprises Handicap) collected first prizemoney cheques of $40,000.

The win of Cravings, the colt's second from two starts, took Hawkes's Sydney metropolitan tally for the season to 142, with one Saturday city win more than covering training fees for a year.

Stable foreman Peter Snowden said prominent owner Colin Throsby had been ill, with the victory of Cravings a welcome tonic.

"He's a great bloke, Col, but he hasn't been too good for a while now," Snowden said.

"He's put plenty into racing and has been around for a long time.

"He was training when I was an apprentice and that is going back a while."

Cravings was bred by Throsby.

The son of Encosta De Lago is out of former star two-year-old Lovely Jubly, which won the group1 double of the QTC Sires' Produce-TJ Smith Stakes, as well as a Magic Millions. "It was good of Col to give us the horse to train," Snowden said.

"He went shinsore a couple of times early on, but came back a much more mature and settled horse.

"He is very relaxed now and is bomb-proof."

Snowden said Cravings had everything against him yesterday.

"He had to carry a big weight on a wet track [heavy 9] and missed a run at Rosehill last week because of the rain [causing the meeting to be abandoned]," he said.

"But he stepped up to the mark and came through with flying colours. He is a magnificent horse."

Cravings was ridden yesterday by apprentice Ric McMahon, who is based with the Hawkes stable in Brisbane. "Ric rode the horse well," Snowden said.

McMahon said after the win that he would love to move permanently to Sydney.

He also won the last race of the day on the Joseph Pride-trained Zedaction.

He has ridden regularly in Sydney for Hawkes and won for the stable on Pennants at Canterbury on Friday.

Cravings opened up a $1.90 chance, but eased to $3 before punters stepped in to back him in to start a $2.70 favourite.

Snowden said Tzu Hsi ($4.80) relished the heavy track in her long-head win over Winning Spur ($6).

Apprentice Joshua Parr steered Tzu Hsi to victory.

© 2007 Sun Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home