Visor gear change to snap Group 1 drought for Love Conquers All in Stradbroke
Team Hawkes is trying a rarely used ploy to snap a frustrating run of Group 1 placings for Love Conquers All in the AAMI Stradbroke.
Michael Hawkes, who trains in partnership with his father John and brother Wayne, has been supervising Love Conquers All's Sunshine Coast-based preparation for the $1 million Stradbroke at Eagle Farm tomorrow.
Hawkes said Love Conquers All would race in a visor - a cut-out version of the blinkers, which the four-year-old stallion has raced in for a long time.
"We cut a diamond-shaped hole in the blinker cup, which effectively allows the horse to have a bit better peripheral sight," Hawkes said.
In the Doomben 10,000, Love Conquers All hit the front inside the 300m but just inside the 200m was challenged by Beaded, who quickly raced a neck in front and looked set to win decisively.
Once Beaded came into the vision of Love Conquers All he really fought back to run the mare to a nose.
The thinking clearly is that a visor would help Love Conquers All become aware of an approaching challenger.
"He's an entire and maybe he just wavered for a few strides in the 10,000," Hawkes said.
"He only had to find a couple of centimetres and he would have won.
"He's a genuine racehorse. He might be a stallion but he's a professional. But we are just looking for a slight edge."
Love Conquers All has been second at five of his six starts this campaign, including his past four starts. The past four placings have been:
Second to More Joyous in the Group 2 $175,000 Canterbury Stakes (1300m)
Second to Rangirangdoo in the Group 1 $400,000 Ryder Stakes (1500m)
Second to Sacred Choice in the Group 1 Doncaster Mile (1600m)
Second to Beaded in the Group 1 $650,000 Doomben 10,000 (1350m).
The past three placings boast exactly the same formline as Black Piranha before his first Stradbroke victory in 2009 - seconds in the 10,000, Doncaster and Ryder.
The Love Conquers All near-misses mirrors the frustrating Group 1 record for the stable since the official union of the three family members to become Team Hawkes in October, 2009.
In that period they have been successful in one Group 1 race (Fiumicino's 2009 BMW), with 10 placings including Love Conquers All's run and Maluckyday's second in the Melbourne Cup.
The stable is firing. But the luck hasn't run their way.
This season the Hawkes runners have won 38 races and $3.8 million in stakes from 247 runners.
"Our big-race record is very good considering we only have 20 horses in Melbourne and 25 in Sydney," Michael Hawkes said.
Hawkes does not believe barrier 16 is a major obstacle for Love Conquers All, who has performed well ridden forward or off the speed.
Story: Bart Sinclair Courier Mail
Photo: Martin King www.sportpix.com.au