Hawkesbury debutants aiming to spring into winter carnival

With eyes on a potential hit-and-run mission to the Queensland winter carnival, a smart group of debutant two-year-olds will aim to bring down the older sprinters at Thursday’s feature Hawkesbury meeting.

It’s becoming a popular training trend for juveniles, either late-season bloomers or some being deliberately held back for the less challenging races in the post-Sydney autumn.

And top of that two-year-old wish list could come as soon as Saturday week, with the group 2 Sires’ Produce Stakes over 1400m at Eagle Farm.

So Hawkesbury looms as the perfect springboard for a few leading stables, if they can start with a bang in what shapes as a strong super maiden form line over 1100m on a drying surface that could even get back to good four.

Heading the watch list is impressive colt Braveheart from the Snowden stable at Randwick.

A powerful son of prolific I Am invincible, and out of the smart group 3-winning mare Octavia, Braveheart won the second of two recent trials in commanding fashion, and was scratched from Wednesday’s Warwick Farm meeting to be saved for this.

But two other debutants from rival Sydney yards are also out to make statements.

Dark Gleam, a gelded son of top sprinter Brazen Beau, starts behind two trials for the Gerald Ryan-Sterling Alexiou stable. Another colt by I Am Invincible, the John O’Shea-trained True Amor, was also impressive winning the second of two lead-up trials.

Yet two runners with race experience, and both resuming off two trials, will likely provide big stumbling blocks for these youngsters.