John Hawkes trained Gopana wins the Rotary International

GOPANA continued Team Hawkes' resurgent season with a dominant win over 1800m yesterday.

John Hawkes and his sons, Michael and Wayne, have had their best season since forming their training partnership four years ago and Gopana was their 15th Sydney winner to secure a top-10 position in the trainers' premiership.

The trio has also won 57 races nationally, the most the family has had in a season..

These results have been achieved despite the stable having only 25 horses in work at Rosehill and Flemington.

"We don't have the numbers to compete with the bigger stables but we are getting our share of winners," Michael Hawkes said.

"To win a Group 1 with Niwot in the Sydney Cup was fantastic but to win a race like this with Gopana is just as important for the stable. Every winner counts."

Gopana ($8) had not raced for more than a month but was turned out in superb condition and, aided by a brilliant Brenton Avdulla ride, the mare proved too good for Triple Six ($8) with Shamardani ($7.50) a half-neck away third.

The well-backed Moriarity ($3.60 favourite) endured a tough run three-wide for most of the race yet battled on gamely to finish fourth.

"She was racing well without winning and sometimes with mares they can go through those stages where they struggle to win races," Hawkes said.

"We gave her a month between runs but she had a barrier trial earlier in the week and went really well, so we thought she'd be hard to beat.

"Brenton gave her a 10-out-of-10 ride, he put her in exactly the right spot and rode her perfectly."

Team Hawkes has some real firepower for the spring carnivals this year, including Black Caviar's boom half-brother All Too Hard and three potential Melbourne Cup contenders with Niwot, Maluckyday and Australian Derby runner-up Polish Knight.

"They are all out spelling and will return early in June," Hawkes said.

Story: Ray Thomas Daily Telegraph

Photo: www.sportpix.com.au