Unbeaten four year old Deep Field will be set for the major sprint races during the 2015 Sydney Autumn Carnival.
Emerging sprinting star Deep Field will be aimed towards the major sprints during the Sydney Autumn Carnival. Photo by Sarah Ebbett.
Deep Field was sent to the spelling paddock after maintaining his perfect record of five wins from starts with a victory up the Flemington straight in the Group 2 $300,000 tab.com.au Stakes (1200m) on the first day of the four day Melbourne Cup Carnival on November 1.
The training team of John, Wayne and Michael Hawkes haven’t rushed the progress of the Northern Meteor stallion and were happy to give him a light Spring Carnival campaign with next year’s Autumn in mind.
The Group 1 $400,000 Bloodstock.com.au Galaxy (1100m) at Rosehill on March 21 and the Group 1 $2.5m Darley T J Smith Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on April 4 will be high on the agenda for Deep Field in the Autumn.
“He’s enjoying his spell and looks fantastic – he’s put on weight and we’re very happy,” Michael Hawkes told Racenet.
“We’ll get him back and see how he goes but he’ll be in those sprints.
“Where he starts and where he stops are two different things but for him it’s about keeping him intact because he’s a stallion and worth a lot of money at the moment.”
“We have just taken him along quietly; he is a four-year-old, but he is really like a three-year-old.”
“Hopefully there will be bigger and better things in store for him.”
“This bloke is probably not there yet, but he will be in the autumn and that is what we are targeting.”
Deep Field arrived on the scene with a ten lengths win in an 1100m Gosford maiden in June and quickly gained the reputation as the next sprinting star to come out of the Hawkes’ stable.
The emerging sprinting star then went on to win his next two starts at Canterbury by decisive margins before being tested at Stakes level with a win in the Listed $100,000 City Tattersall’s Club Lightning Handicap (1100m) at Randwick on October 18.
Team Hawkes then took Deep Field to Melbourne to test him out in the Spring Carnival and he responded with an impressive win up the Flemington straight.
The father and sons combination also put the finishing touches on another emerging sprinter, Chautauqua, who was narrowly beaten when second to Terravista in the Group 1 $1m Darley Classic (1200m) at Flemington on November 8.
And even though they were able to keep the two speedsters apart in the Spring, it is highly likely that Deep Field and Chautauqua will clash in the Group 1 sprints in the Autumn.
