Hawkes tips his colt to have the wood on them

Hawkes Racing are no strangers to preparing well-related youngsters for a successful racing career and the team are predicting a half-brother to a Melbourne Cup placegetter "should just win again” at Rosehill on Saturday.

John, Michael and Wayne put the polish on Black Caviar’s half-brother All Too Hard. The colt registered four Group I victories in his three-year-old season as well as finishing runner-up in a Cox Plate.

The boys will saddle up Darciwood in Saturday’s Project Ten Handicap (1200m) at Rosehill. The colt by Darci Brahma is out of Natalie Wood, making him a half-brother to 2010 Melbourne Cup runner-upMaluckyday.

"He’s not in the same mould as Malucky(day) but he certainly has his share of ability,” co-trainer Michael Hawkes said.

Darciwood debuted with a five-length at Geelong (1200m) on May 14 and the stable said the three-year-old will have no issues racing at 1200 metres again despite being related to an "out and out stayer”.

"He’s built more like a sprinter/miler (than Maluckyday),” he said.

"This is a nice race for him. He gets in on the limit and has come on well since his win.

"I expect to him to just win again.”

Hawkes wouldn’t be drawn into any plans for Darciwood following Saturday’s race preferring instead to "take each race as it comes”.

"You can run in stakes races against the good horses but then it can be difficult to come back to benchmark racing (because of weight).

"At the end of the day, they’re here to win prizemoney and he could easily win three Saturday races earning about $150,000 before we need to worry about a stakes race.”

Story: Nic Ashman RaceNet