Swear prevails in Ming Dynasty
THE roll of Team Hawkes continued on Saturday at Randwick as Swear became its 12th three-year-old winner of the season when it prevailed in the Ming Dynasty.
The smart colt was well backed form $5 into $3.60 at CrownBet and after settling on the pace, jockey Tommy Berry asked it to go and it held off a fast-finishing and unlucky High Mist.
Being a son of Redoute’s Choice, the three-year-old was given time to mature after its debut win at Hawkesbury and co-trainer Michael Hawkes believes it’s all about quality with the younger horses.
“A lot of these horses have just needed time and it’s about quality over quantity for us,” Hawkes said.
“We have patient owners and that helps. It’s just a matter of getting them in the groove.
“He wasn’t comfortable in the ground but his class prevailed.”
Hawkes hasn’t made any long term plans for Swear, but will be looking towards the staying races in future.
“He’s a stayer on the up. He covers a lot of ground and hopefully there’s a lot more in store for him once he stretches out in journey,” Hawkes said.
“He’s a nice horse on the way up.”
The run of Team Hawkes has been exemplified by both Divine Prophet and Star Turn, but only one runner will be heading to next week’s Group 1 Golden Rose.
“Divine Prophet will run but Star Turn won’t,” Hawkes said.
He stated that Star Turn will likely be kept to the shorter sprints during the Melbourne spring carnival with the Coolmore Stud Stakes on the agenda.
Divine Prophet is currently on the second line of betting at $5.50 with Sportsbet for the Golden Rose with last-start winner Astern the $4.60 favourite.