Hall of Fame trainer John Hawkes spent 15 years training out of Warwick Farm and hopes his multiple Group One winner Mentality can spring a surprise and give him another major race victory at the south western Sydney track on Saturday.Mentality will line up in the Group One Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m), with the meeting returning to Warwick Farm for the first time in three years.Mentality was there the last time the Chipping Norton was staged at Warwick Farm in 2007 where he finished a close t

Hall of Fame trainer John Hawkes spent 15 years training out of Warwick Farm and hopes his multiple Group One winner Mentality can spring a surprise and give him another major race victory at the south western Sydney track on Saturday.

Mentality will line up in the Group One Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m), with the meeting returning to Warwick Farm for the first time in three years.

Mentality was there the last time the Chipping Norton was staged at Warwick Farm in 2007 where he finished a close third to He's No Pie Eater and Desert War as a three-year-old.

The six-year-old is preparing for a third crack at the Chipping Norton - he missed the race in 2008 but ran fifth last year - and Hawkes acknowledged it would take a big turnaround in form for Mentality to win on Saturday.

Hawkes was head trainer for the Ingham family at Crown Lodge between 1993 and 2007 and in that time the partnership dominated Sydney racing.

Historically, Hawkes has also played a huge role on Chipping Norton day training 17 Group races winners at the meeting in the past 15 years.

Hawkes trained the winner of two Chipping Nortons (Octagonal 1997, Lonhro 2003), three Group Two Surround Stakes (Shame 1996, Hosannah 2002, Only Words 2004), five Group Three Kindergarten Stakes (Guineas 1997, Peat Bog 1998, Niello 2003, Plagiarize 2006, Forensics 2007), and four Group Three Liverpool City Cups (Accomplice 1997, Catatonic 2000, Continuum 2001, Planchet 2003) during that period.

He also trained Toltrice to win the Liverpool City Cup back in 1974.

Mentality returns to Sydney after two "average" performances in Melbourne so far this campaign.

The son of Flying Spur finished seventh of eight in the Group One William Reid Stakes (1200m) first-up before running ninth of 10 in a 1400m Open Handicap at Caulfield last Saturday.

"He's not racing as good as he can at the moment," Hawkes, who now trains at Rosehill in partnership with his sons Michael and Wayne, said.

"He doesn't like racing in Melbourne anyway, but he's been down there because we've been trying to get away from wet tracks in Sydney."

Despite his form, Hawkes knows the talent is there with Mentality and even with 10 Group One winners engaged in the Chipping Norton, an in-form Mentality would prove hard to beat.

"He's always capable (of winning), he's just getting a bit older now," the trainer said.

"Yes he's got to lift but he's capable of it. He's still has to go out and do it though."

Mentality has been with the Hawkes team through an eventful past four years.

The gelding was there while Hawkes still trained out of Warwick Farm as Sydney's leading trainer. He was there when equine influenza struck. And he went with Hawkes as he set up a new base at Rosehill with a small team after he resigned his position with the Inghams in 2007.

"He's won three Group Ones and over $2 million, anyone who doesn't like one of those horses is hard to please," Hawkes said.

"I don't know any owner who wouldn't like a horse like that."