NEWCASTLE will always hold a special place in Australian Hall Of Famer John Hawkes’ storied training career.
It was at Broadmeadow in 1993 where the South Australian expat landed his first feature winner after taking over in Sydney as head trainer for Jack and Bob Ingham at Crown Lodge at Warwick Farm.
Hawkes won the Group 3 Newcastle Newmarket (now renamed the Newcastle Stakes) with Deposition, who defeated Ghost Story and Tarheel Boy.
Hawkes also won Newcastle Jockey Club’s autumn feature in 2001 with Crawl (Larry Cassidy) and in 2007 with Danzippo (Darren Beadman), and then in partnership with sons Michael and Wayne, having formed Australian racing’s first three-person partnership, with Mecir (James McDonald) in 2014.
Now Team Hawkes is chasing another Newcastle Stakes tomorrow, this time with classy mare Makarena (Tyler Schiller).
The stable also nominated Group 2 winner Airman, but kept him for Saturday’s $750,000 Group 1 Canterbury Stakes (1300m) at Royal Randwick.
Makarena, who won last spring’s Group 2 Golden Pendant Stakes (1400m) at her home track at Rosehill Gardens, this morning was a $3.70 favorite with TAB.com.au for the Newcastle Stakes.
Her rider Schiller is no stranger either to feature triumphs at Newcastle.
He won the 2023 Group 3 Cameron Handicap (1500m) on Democracy Manifest, and the last two runnings of the $1m The Hunter (1300m); Coal Crusher in 2023 and the talented Hawkes’ sprinter Briasa last year.
Makarena has raced once since resuming when a close fourth as favorite to Firestorm in the Group 2 Millie Fox Stakes (1300m) at her home track on February 22.
Schiller rode her then, and also when she won a 1050m trial at Royal Randwick nine days earlier.
Newcastle Jockey Club drew an excellent field of 13 for the Newcastle Stakes renewal, with many of Sydney’s top jockeys (except James McDonald) competing.
Newcastle Hall Of Famer Peter Snowden is a three-times winner of the race, and will be represented tomorrow by Lavish Empire (Andrew Adkins).
He has decided to take blinkers off the gelding, and instead race him in a nose roll.
Snowden won the Stakes in 2008 with Falaise (Josh Parr) and Bello (Jason Collett) in 2013 after taking over from John Hawkes as Ingham Brothers’ head trainer, and also with son Paul in 2016 when Frenchman Thomas Huet got Artistry home from stablemate Nancy when the race had to be transferred to Rosehill.
There are only two provincial representatives – both trained at Newcastle – lining up in the Stakes.
Local mare Wooloowin’s withdrawal today means there will be only one provincial representative – Kris Lees’ mare Hellavadancer, a $51 outsider.
“Wooloowin has had a minor setback, and will progress to the Provincial-Midway Championships Qualifier (1400m) at Newcastle on March 20,” trainer Nathan Doyle’s racing manager David Dyson said this afternoon.
Lees has won five of the last six runnings, scoring first with Princess Posh in 2019, then Special Reward (2020), Gem Song (2021) and Wandabaa (2022).
He missed out in 2023 but wasn’t far away just the same, finishing a close second with Gem Song, then bounced back by winning with Rustic Steel, who led throughout last year.
. The rail is 2m out for the entire circuit, and course manager Chris Nation posted a “Soft 5” rating at 8.30am today.
The track at that time had received only 4mm of rain in the previous 24 hours, and 23mm in the past seven days.
Story John Curtis, March 6, 2025
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