Hard work being related to Black Caviar

If All Too Hard suffered an inferiority complex he would never surface, let alone at Flemington on Saturday.

Especially with his half sister hogging the limelight.

You see, All Too Hard, who makes his debut in the Talindert Stakes, is Black Caviar's half brother. Talk about weight of expectation.

The colt is owned by mining billionaire Nathan Tinkler, whose $1.025 million bid at the Inglis Easter Sydney sales knocked out Neil Werrett, senior part-owner of Black Caviar.

It was some bidding duel, 33 bids, in fact, before the Casino Prince-Helsinge colt found its way into the care of Team Hawkes, the father John, sons Wayne and Michael.

While no one, especially the Hawkes or Tinkler, expects All Too Hard to scale the heights of Black Caviar, all the early indications are positive that the colt can forge a tidy career for himself.

"The most important thing is that All Too Hard doesn't know who he's related to," Wayne Hawkes said.

"He doesn't have to be as good as Black Caviar to be very successful. You can have all the comparisons, all that sort of stuff and he's going to be scrutinised big time, but it's not fair to the horse.

"If he's successful they'll say so he should be, but if he's not people will say I told you so."

The Hawkes have been there, done that with another half brother to Black Caviar - Moshe, who opened his career with a six-length win and won three of five starts before going amiss.

So, do you treat a Black Caviar family member any differently? Definitely not, said Hawkes who said All Too Hard was another member of the stable.

"If you let that sort of pressure get to you, you don't deserve to be training it," he said.

"He's a lovely quiet horse with a great attitude. He does everything right, just what you need in a two-year-old.

"He's a natural, an absolute natural. Vic Thompson, who pre-trained the horse in Sydney, said he did everything so easily."

Anyway, Wayne Hawkes doesn't subscribe to the inferiority complex bit. "I've handled living in the shadow of my brother," he said with a laugh.

Story: Adrian Dunn Sun Herald