Hawkes taking time with Entirely Platinum
The highly talented Entirely Platinum is gearing up for another spring carnival in the hope he can snare an elusive Group One win.
Entirely Platinum hasn’t won a race since August 2014 but has been placed three times since then at the highest level.
The gelding took part in an 800m jump-out at Flemington on Friday and senior trainer John Hawkes said he was likely to have another hit-out before his racetrack return.
“He’s still a few weeks away from having a run,” Hawkes, who trains in partnership with sons Michael and Wayne, said.
“We’ll see how he pulls up and then look for another jump-out for him and then in the later part of the month he should be ready to go.”
Entirely Platinum missed a Group One win by just a short head when second to Boban in last year’s Memsie Stakes, a race which could again be on the agenda.
“The Memsie could be a possibility, but we’ll just see how he progresses in the next week or so,” Hawkes said.
“Those sorts of races are there but they’re not easy to win.”
Entirely Platinum hasn’t raced since finishing fifth in the Neville Sellwood Stakes at Rosehill in March.
His stablemate, champion sprinter Chautauqua, is in pre-training in Sydney for a three-race Melbourne campaign before a tilt at the International Sprint in Hong Kong in December.
“He’s at the farm doing some pre-training, just plodding along,” Hawkes said.
“He’s fine and looks good but it’s still a long way to go before he has a run.”