Team Hawkes were forced to take a Melbourne insurance policy with progressive galloper Altivo before getting a run in the $1million Five Diamonds Prelude at Randwick on Saturday.
“They couldn’t tell us if he was going to get a run in this race, because of all the dual nominations, so we put him in the Moonga Stakes, a $200,000 group 3 down there, for safety, so that cost the owners a bit of money,” Hawkes said.
Altivo (yellow cap) steams home for third behind Unspoken last start.Credit: Getty
“Everyone wants to run for the money, and this is the race we have been aiming him at, but his rating just wasn’t high enough to be sure of a run.
“The horse is in really good form and I think he could have – should have – won his two runs this time in, and if he had done that it wouldn’t be a problem and he would be favourite here.”
Altivo has been well found in betting at his two previous runs. Although his tenth of 13 first up at $3.80 doesn’t sound encouraging, he pitched for an inside run that closed and was blocked for a run in the final 200m before going to the line untested.
He started $2.30 favourite in benchmark 88 company next time out and again had trouble finding clear running before steaming to the line for a close-up third behind Unspoken.
“He might be five but he is still learning his craft, so that is the worry against some proven group performers, but we think he has the potential to get to that sort of level,” Hawkes said.
Punters will get a price to find out. Altivo is a $10 chance in a wide-open market headed by Democracy Manifest and Cotehele at $5.
The stable is hoping to get Flying Crazy into the Big Dance through the Wildcard, and also have two-year-old Agenda Setter making his debut in the Kirkham Plate.
“He was really good in winning his first trial and then got a bit lost without the rail in his second trial, but he was still good, even though he ran second,” Hawkes said of Agenda Setter.
“We have put the winkers on to help him, and he comes into barrier three, so he’ll run a good race.”
The rating wasn’t a problem for Flying Crazy, which is topweight for the Big Dance Wildcard, but he needs to run first or second to get into the $3 million Big Dance on Melbourne Cup day.
A lot of his rivals on Saturday are qualified for the consolation Little Dance, but Flying Crazy finished third in last year’s Goulburn Cup and so is not, so it’s all or nothing in the Big Dance Wildcard.
“He has got better with every run, and this is one of the races we marked for him,” Hawkes said. “I think he is top three, but has to run top two to achieve what we want from the race.”
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