TEAM Hawkes makes a habit of coming first – both on and off the racetrack.
Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes were the first three-person training partnership in Australian racing. They were the first training partnership to saddle up a runner in Sydney racing, winning with their first ever runner – Real Saga in the 2008 Listed Breeders Plate. They also prepared the first Group One winner by a training partnership in Sydney racing when Fiumicino won the 2009 The BMW on Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill Gardens.
After almost a decade in operation, the Team Hawkes stable has enjoyed unbridled success, producing more than 700 winners, 15 at Group One level, a total of 95 stakes wins and stable earnings exceeding $50 million.
The stable has enjoyed many memorable moments during this period, most notably with champion sprinter, Chautauqua. The “Grey Flash” was the world’s top-rated sprinter in 2016 and 2017 and has built an outstanding race record, both nationally and abroad.
Hall of Famer John Hawkes regards Chautauqua’s stunning last-to-first effort in the 2016 Group One Chairman’s Sprint Prize in Hong Kong as the highlight of his training career.
“A few things went wrong before that race, Chautauqua lost a shoe twice, and then to see him get so far back early, where it looked like he was giving away too big a start, and still get up to win in Hong Kong was probably the greatest thrill I’ve had in racing,’’ Hawkes said.
Chautauqua stunned the huge Sha Tin crowd with his incredible finishing burst, turning likely defeat into an improbable victory – which is what the great gelding has become famous for.
Just think of Chautauqua’s amazing and historic three-peat in the Group One TJ Smith Stakes at Royal Randwick during The Championships (2015-16-17), and his unforgettable efforts to win the 2015 Group One Manikato Stakes and 2016 Group One Lightning Stakes.
Chautauqua has already won 12 races and nearly $8 million prizemoney, placing him fifth on the all-time earnings list.
Team Hawkes hasn’t relied on Chautauqua, either, to make their presence felt at feature race level. The stable has had production line of outstanding gallopers since 2008 including the exciting All Too Hard.
Being Black Caviar’s half-brother, All Too Hard – and Team Hawkes – was always under scrutiny from the moment the boom colt stepped onto the racetrack but he delivered and then some during a brilliant race career.
All Too Hard won seven of his 12 starts, earning over $2.2 million in stakes. He was a four-time Group 1 winner of the 2012 Caulfield Guineas, then in 2013 the CF Orr Stakes, Futurity Stakes, All Aged Stakes, while he also ran a very good second in the 2012 Cox Plate.
The best of All Too Hard’s race career might have been ahead of him but it wasn’t surprising when the prized colt was rushed to stud at the end of his three-year-old season. The young stallion is already making his make as a sire.
This has been a noticeable trait of the Hawkes stable over the years – their proven ability to develop well-bred colts into top class racehorses and setting them up to be commercial stallion prospects.
The likes of top colts Divine Prophet, Star Turn and Swear were retired at the end of their three-year-olds seasons in 2016-17, as were Doubtland, North Pacific and Ole Kirk in 2021, having achieved enough on the racetrack to convince the breeding industry of their credentials as sires.
Team Hawkes has also celebrated big-race wins with brilliant filly Mossfun (2014 Golden Slipper), Niwot (2012 Sydney Cup), Inference (2017 Randwick Guineas), Estijaab (2018 Golden Slipper), Brutal(NZ) (2019 Doncaster Mile) and from top class gallopers like Love Conquers All, Messene, Leebaz, Maluckyday and Masked Crusader.
These stable triumphs are a continuation of Hall Of Famer John Hawkes’s phenomenal training career. He is regarded as one of Australia’s all-time great trainers with a career total of 110 Group One winners so far to be fifth on the all-time trainers’ list of major race winners. However, Hawkes admits he regrets his sons did not get officially acknowledged for their contributions to many of his successes until the training partnership was established.
“I’m glad the boys are with me now in a partnership and they can get some recognition for their hard work,’’ John Hawkes once said.
The champion trainer pointed out that his sons had been working with him for nearly 20 years and “even though we don’t have the numbers now, the system is still the same. Nothing has changed in that regard.”
And the system works very, well. With Michael in charge of the main stable base at Rosehill Gardens and Wayne holding the reins at the team’s Flemington stable base, John splits his time between the two states as the winners keep flowing from Team Hawkes.
