Team Hawkes will keep their Spring Carnival options open for Brutal who could line up in either the $14m The Everest (1200m) or in the $7.5m Golden Eagle (1500m).
Brutal, above, winning the 2019 Doncaster Mile at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Brutal is in the early stages of his 2019 Spring Carnival preparation and if the Doncaster Mile winner was selected for a slot in the weight for age The Everest at Randwick on October 19, co-trainer Wayne Hawkes said the stable would take up the option.
“Could you set Brutal for The Everest and could he win? Yes, he could, as he’s a 1200m horse who can run out a mile,” Wayne Hawkes told the Herald Sun.
“There’s not many new horses this year — it’s not as if we’ve had five new Black Caviars or Chautauquas all coming into the action.”
“So Brutal could do it, but I don’t know if that’s our target race.’’
“Things change. Some of these horses aren’t going to come up and people will be looking to change slots.”
Team Hawkes also has the option of setting the rising four year old for the Golden Eagle against his own age at Rosehill on November 2 but that decision will be made at a later date.
“The main part of the spring carnival is a long, long way off. A lot of horses are up in work now but we’re a month off racing at least,” Hawkes said.
“We make every decision at the last minute.”
Brutal lived up to the stable’s expectation as a three year old with a clear cut win in the Group 1 $3m The Star Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Randwick on Day One of The Championships on April 6.
Slots for the 2019 The Everest that have been allocated are Chris Waller Racing – Enticing Star, The Star – Arcadia Queen, Yulong Investments – Redzel, Max Whitby – Sunlight, TAB – Santa Ana Lane, Aquis – Pierata, Bon Ho & Carmel Size Racing – Classique Legend and Inglis – In Her Time.
Early betting at Ladbrokes.com.au for the 2019 The Everest has Brutal marked at $15 while in Golden Eagle betting the colt is pressing for favouritism on the second line of betting at $4.60 behind the Chris Waller trained Arcadia Queen at $4.
Early betting for the 2019 The Everest at Ladbrokes.com.au: $6 Santa Ana Lane, $7 Osborne Bulls, $8 Arcadia Queen, Pierata, $9 Sunlight, $10 Classique Legend, $11 Redzel, $13 Alizee, In Her Time, $15 Brutal, Enticing Star, Ten Sovereigns, $17 Graff, $21 Hot King Prawn, Zoustyle, Nature Strip, $26 Advertise, The Bostonian, $34 Vega Magic, Zousain, $41 or better the rest.
