Shrewd planning allows Team Hawkes pair to sneak under handicapper’s guard in Doncaster Mile
First they had to develop the horse’s natural talents, then qualify for the big races while trying to beat the handicapper.
Team Hawkes has managed to do this not once but twice with Messene and Ninth Legion, their runners in the Group 1 $3 million Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Royal Randwick tomorrow.
It is rare in the modern era for trainers to get under the handicapper’s guard because form is so exposed. The days of the an Even Stevens-like coup is almost a thing of the past.
Even Stevens was the talented New Zealand stayer who was kept off the racetrack for months before the release of weights for the 1962 Caulfield and Melbourne Cups. He was given a featherweight in both races and duly won the Cups double.
The Hawkes stable has carefully managed the Doncaster preparations of Messene and Ninth Legion and have got both into the world’s richest mile race on the limit weight of 51.5kg.
"The plan has worked really well with both horses," said Hall of Fame trainer John Hawkes.
"We just try and place our horses where they can perform best and winning those exempt races with Messene (Ajax Stakes) and Ninth Legion (Villiers Stakes) was a big bonus."
With Messene, the Doncaster favourite, this race has been 12 months in the planning — but owner George Cloros had no idea.
"They didn’t tell me anything about the Doncaster until earlier this year," Cloros said.
"I think John and his boys, Michael and Wayne, just plan for these things and don’t want to give owners like myself false hope.
"I’m really enjoying racing horses with the Hawkes stable because right from the start John said if your horse is no good, we will tell you, we don’t want to waste your time or money."
John Hawkes said it is stable policy to be "open and up front" with their owners.
"We do this with all our owners, we respect them," Hawkes explained. "If their horses are not up to scratch, we tell them and advise them to move the horse on.
"There is no point just having heads over doors."
But Hawkes is also circumspect when it comes to relaying a horse’s potential to its owner.
"We don’t get carried away, we let our horses do the talking," he continued.
"With a horse like Messene, we have been patient and allowed the horse to go through his grades.
"These good horses, if you give them the time they need, they will keep improving.
"It was about 12 months ago when we started thinking Messene had the potential to be a Doncaster horse — but they don’t always get there. This horse has been one of those that just keeps improving, keeps stepping up."
Messene had just won a midweek race at Canterbury in March last year, scoring a comfortable win although few apart from Team Hawkes too much notice. The strapping gelding hasn’t been beaten since, winning seven races in succession going into the Doncaster tomorrow.
Cloros has won Group 1 races previously with the likes of The Metropolitan winners In Joyment and Coco Cobanna but he has never had a Group 1 starter that he has bred and owned- until Messene.
By former champion racehorse and super sire Lonhro, who Hawkes trained, out of the Redoute’s Choice mare Belle Giselle, Messene is a rising six-year-old gelding and a veteran of just 12 starts for nine wins and two seconds.
"My father, Bill, raced horses from 1943 so that is how long my family has been involved in the sport. He had some very good horses like Field Boy (1950 Villiers Stakes), and he bred Blazing Saddles (1977 Blue Diamond winner), Crimson Cloud and Crimson Flight," Cloros said.
"But it is very special to have a horse that you bred lining up in a big race like the Doncaster.
"Messene is a big, strong horse with he has a lovely temperament. He’s very gentle, very quiet, almost too quiet.
"I’d like to see him fire up a little — but he does that when he’s racing so that is all that matters."
If Messene can win the Doncaster, it would be Cloros’s biggest-ever win, albeit an emotional one.
Cloros and his late wife Kay have been among Sydney racing’s most popular owners for years until her passing just a few months ago.
Hawkes said he would take great pride in the Doncaster with Messene in honour of Kay Cloros.
"George is a really decent man and it would be lovely to win the Doncaster for him," Hawkes added.
But the likelihood of a rain-affected track has Hawkes wary about the chances of Messene and Ninth Legion tomorrow.
"Messene is a query," the champion trainer admitted. "If it is slow, I think he will be OK but in the heavy, it is just guess work when they haven’t been on it before.
"Ninth Legion hacks through but he is much better on top of the ground."
Messene remains the $4 Doncaster favourite despite drawing off the track in barrier 18.
"It will be up to Corey (Brown) to sort that out," Hawkes continued. "There is nothing you can do about barrier draws, they are the cards we are dealt with."
Team Hawkes, which won the Golden Slipper last week with Mossfun, is hoping for a rare big-race double with either Messene of Ninth Legion tomorrow.
Hawkes missed the opportunity to enjoy the Golden Slipper triumph with his sons immediately after the race as he was laid up at home with a bad back.
"I would have loved to have been there last week but it was just a fantastic effort from the boys and our stable staff, and also great for Trevor Lobb and Emirates who race Mossfun," he continued.
"It could not have come at a better time because it did open some doors for us at the Easter Yearling Sales.
"But it has been such a busy week we have not really had a chance to reflect much on the Slipper — and we have another race we are trying to win.
"We are in the Doncaster with two chances and if we happen to win, it would be an unbelievable season."
Hawkes said "beating the handicapper" with both Messene and Ninth Legion gives the geldings an opportunity to win the famous Randwick mile.
Over gave Hawkes his only previous Doncaster win when he ran down the mighty Sunline in 2000. Over had 51.5kg that day, the same weight Messene and Ninth Legion are carrying tomorrow.
"I don’t think there is a Sunline in the Doncaster tomorrow, there is a lot of good horses but they are not in Sunline’s class — I bloody hope not anyway," he said.
Story: Ray Thomas Daily Telegraph