Blueblood starts to bloom late

The in-form stable of Hawkes Racing continued its great recent run when the impeccably-bred Brian’s Honour landed a strong win in the Grosvenor Handicap (1250m) at Canterbury on Wednesday.

Brian’s Honour is a son of the ill-fated Anabaa out of the multiple Group I-winning mare Grand Archway and is raced by the late Jack Ingham’s son Ben and his wife Natalie and UK-based Kiwi businessman Eric Watson.

“He’s a horse that’s has plenty of time but hopefully he can go on with the job now,” co-trainer Michael Hawkes said.

Brian’s Honour began quickly when the gates flew back and took up the running before shooting clear in the straight to win by a widening three lengths on the line.

“It was actually ‘Plan B’ to lead but when he jumped well Josh [Adams] summed things up and let him take it up,” Hawkes said.

“He’s a horse that’s bred to go a bit further so it’s good to see him win in that fashion today over a sprint trip.

“He’s a nice horse and he looked to appreciate the soft track today.”

Brian’s Honour defeated See The Universe with Anything back in third.

Racenet’s “hot trainers” list shows how well the Hawkes Racing stable is currently going with six winners from their past 17 starters over the past 21 days at a strikerate of 2.89 winners to runners.

That strikerate is the ninth best in Australia over the past three weeks.

Story: Clinton Payne RaceNet

Photo: SportPix