Polish Knight starts on the road to redemption

A year ago Polish Knight was one of the early favourites for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups but 12 months on ,the Hawkes Racing-trained galloper will kick off a preparation at Rosehill on Saturday that is aimed at setting the record straight.

In the autumn of 2012, Polish Knight ran second in theAustralian Derby. He returned in the spring last year and finished 2-3/4 lengths behind the winner in the Group II Warwick Stakes before three below par performances, culminating in a last placing in The Metropolitan where he bled.

"His last preparation was woeful and he did have a bleeding attack in the Metrop," Michael Hawkes, who trains Polish Knight in partnership with his father John and brother Wayne said.

"We gave him the full time out rather than getting him back in the autumn so we've set him for this spring."

Hawkes said Polish Knight has come back in excellent shape and has performed well in his two Barrier trials.

"His first trial was good," he said. "He was out of his depth because it was over 700 metres and he was doing his best work late in his second trial over 1000 metres.

"In both trials he was warming late which was just what we wanted to see."

On Saturday, Polish Knight resumes in the ClubsNSW Spring Preview Handicap (1400m) and the Rosehill-based co-trainer says the five-year-old gelding by Encosta De Lago is capable of running a "cheeky race".

"He's trained on and worked really good on Tuesday," he said. "He's going really good.

"Naturally he's going to improve with racing but he looks good and is a happy horse.

"Stayers can be sharp first-up and the indications he's giving us is that he will run well on Saturday but in reality he's been off the scene for more than 300 days and he's being targeted at races almost three months away so realistically he's a bit of a wait and see proposition."

Story: Clinton Payne RaceNet