HALL of FAME trainer John Hawkes has guided a few champion thoroughbreds, reports Craig Young in the Sydney Morning Herald.His article adds: Many more top-class thoroughbreds and a large number of those known as the good horse. Those such as Mentality, which is out to win back-to-back George Main Stakes at Randwick tomorrow.''He is no superstar but a really good horse,'' Hawkes said with affection yesterday morning. ''A genuine horse, who usually picks up a cheque. He is a three-time group 1 win
HALL of FAME trainer John Hawkes has guided a few champion thoroughbreds, reports Craig Young in the Sydney Morning Herald.
His article adds: Many more top-class thoroughbreds and a large number of those known as the good horse. Those such as Mentality, which is out to win back-to-back George Main Stakes at Randwick tomorrow.
''He is no superstar but a really good horse,'' Hawkes said with affection yesterday morning. ''A genuine horse, who usually picks up a cheque. He is a three-time group 1 winner. Not many horses do that, not many horses win one of them.''
As the man in charge of Jack and Bob Ingham's unmatched Woodlands Stud operation, which at its height spanned four states, Hawkes developed racetrack idols such as Octagonal and the stallion's son Lonhro. There was the untapped Unworldly, whose life, her career, which promised to be stellar, was cut short when breaking down at Warwick Farm one morning.
Each year the ''chicken kings'' would break in more than 200 thoroughbreds, which would be sent through the slickest training operation in the country. The machine produced thousands of racetrack winners which accumulated massive sums of prizemoney.
While Hawkes was steering the good ship Woodlands to premierships and ensuring the Inghams made a handsome return, along came Mentality. A horse without side connections. One of only a few Hawkes took with him when the Ingham partnership ended.
''He has been a great horse for the owners, all concerned,'' he said.