Third Group 1 For Fawkner
Monday, September 14, 2015
Fawkner, (Damien Oliver, Navy blue, white armbands, and cap), wins the Group 1, Makybe Diva Stakes, at Flemington, 12 September, 2015. Copyright: Colin Bull / Sportpix.
While two greys saluted in stakes races at Rosehill on Saturday, Flemington’s Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes saw the return of another imposing grey, the Robert-Hickmott-trained Fawkner.
A winner of Group 1 races during the two previous Spring Carnivals in the 2013 Caulfield Cup and the 2014 Caulfield Stakes, Fawkner put his narrow second to Dissident in last year’s Makybe Diva Stakes behind him, scoring a tough win in this year’s race.
On the road to the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m), a race he finished a short neck second in last year, the Mill Park Stud sold son of Darley stallion Reset settled a few lengths off the leaders and showing the toughness he is known for, began to make his challenge with 400m to go.
Hitting the lead at the 100m mark, Fawkner held off a wall of horses to record his third win at the elite level and take his earnings soaring past $3.6 million, not a bad return for the $70,000 that was spent to purchase him at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
Fawkner achieves third Group 1 win, scoring in the Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington
Jockey Damien Oliver rode a perfect race with part-owner Nick Williams full of praise.
“I think that was as good a ride as I have ever seen.”
Out of the Group 3-winning Danewin mare Dane Belltar, the Steve Bennetts-bred Fawkner is the second foal of the mare, whose first is the Group 2 winner Tanby while the mare has a Street Cry yearling colt and is due to foal Sebring this season.
Not only was Williams complimentary on the ride, but for also for Mill Park Stud.
“They breed without question some of the toughest horses in the country both he and Happy Trails (fifth) were bred there,’’ Williams said.
From the third crop of Darley stallion Reset, who was also raced by the same connections as Fawkner, Mill Park Stud also have a special relation with the stallion, supplying his first Group 1 victor in Rebel Raider, a winner of the Group 1 VRC Derby who was interestingly represented by his first winner as a sire last week when Prince Tarkeida won at Seymour.
