Scottish trainer Jim Goldie faces an anxious wait to see if Hawkeyethenoo makes the line up for this year’s £100,000 Bluesquare.com Stewards’ Cup after the sprinter was allotted 8st 5lb for the prestigious six-furlong heritage handicap, one of the highlights at Glorious Goodwood on Saturday, July 31.
The progressive four-year-old, currently the 10/1 co-favourite with the race sponsor, started this season with a pair of comfortable wins, including when beatingEnact in a competitive handicap at Newmarket’s Guineas meeting, but has endured little luck in running on his two subsequent appearances.
He was beaten a neck in the Epsom Dash on Derby Day, when intended jockey Kieren Fallon missed the ride after being struck in traffic, and took third from an unfavourable high draw on his latest start in a premier handicap at the Curragh on Irish Derby Day, June 27.
Goldie reported this morning: “Hawkeyethenoo came out of his race at the weekend in good shape. We have given him a quiet few days and he looks fine at the moment.
“He ran very well in Ireland but it was a difficult race to judge - he had a bad draw and fared best out of his group but was chasing a horse at the end that he was never going to catch.
“He nearly got through to win at Epsom, but Ted Durcan just had to switch near the line and it cost us a little bit of momentum. It wasn’t the jockey’s fault and it’s just the way our horse runs his races. I am sure that he was the best horse on the day but it’s no use crying over spilt milk.
“Ideally, we would have liked to have gone up a few pounds after his Curragh run, to guarantee our place in the Bluesquare.com Stewards’ Cup, as I think that he would have needed to be rated around 95 to make the final line up.
“We will aim to run him in the Scottish Stewards’ Cup at Hamilton on July 16, when he can hopefully pick up a penalty and make it to Goodwood. You really need to be a Group or Listed class horse to get into these top handicaps and I hope that we haven’t reached the ceiling with Hawkeyethenoo.
“He’s a talented horse and he is definitely going the right way. Being a Scotsman, I would love to aim for the Bluesquare.com Stewards’ Cup and then bring him back for the Ayr Gold Cup in September. Depending on how he got on, we might look at some of the big Group sprints at the end of the season, and I wouldn’t discount entering him for the Prix de l’Abbaye.”
Hawkeyethenoo currently heads the market with three other horses including Genki (9st 3lb), who stormed through the mist to take the spoils last year and gave his trainer Roger Charlton a third victory in the contest.
The Sir Michael Stoute-trained Enact (8st 12lb) could re-oppose his Newmarket conqueror, while Jeremy Noseda may be represented by Laddies Poker Two (9st 8lb), who belied an absence of 610 days to post an emphatic success in the Wokingham Handicap at Royal Ascot.
Other notable contenders include recent Newcastle scorer Jonny Mudball (12/1 & 8st 13lb), trained by Tom Dascombe, and Victoire de Lyphar (12/1 & 8st 6lb), who scored in a York heritage handicap on June 12 and is one of nine entries from the stable of David Nicholls.