Hawkeye Pierce set for showdown at Alexandra Park ahead of summer

Hawkeye Pierce. Photo / Trish Dunell

Trainer Logan Hollis would love to see talented pacer Hawkeye Pierce race for $900,000 in stakes in just six weeks this summer but he might need your help.

“Your help” meaning if you intend buying a slot in the new Three-Year-Old Pacing slot race to be held on Show Day, which is where Hollis would like to see Hawkeye Pierce end up.

The exciting pacer resumes in a talented-packed race at Alexandra Park tonight, the Purdon and Phelan Racing Metro Heat No 2, which was designed to bring the very best under R55 pacers in the north together.

It looks like it is working as tonight’s heat is a beauty with plenty of open-class-type ability in the field, which gives these horses a chance to qualify for a $35,000 final on September 6, the first of the new finals as harness racing starts to flex the muscle of its new $10 million stake increases.

Hollis says Hawkeye Pierce is ready to roll as he has been in work since winning here on June 27, beating subsequently impressive dual winner Always A Porsche.

“He went well at the workouts two weeks ago, they ran fast sectionals and he was hard-held so he is ready to go,” says Hollis, who trains in partnership with Shane Robertson.

“He has a wide draw and it is a good field and I will probably drive him myself since Tony [Herlihy] is away but we think he can win.”

He does meet some classy pacers including Mako (two from three), last-start winner Invisible, Kings Watch (winner of his last two) and Jeremiah, who was just behind the absolute best 3-year-olds in races like the Northern Derby.

Hollis says Hawkeye Pierce can mix it with that company and winning this heat and final would set him up nicely for a huge summer treble after the sale of his hotshot stablemate Christopher Dance, who has headed to West Australia after being runner-up in the Northern Derby.

“We’d love to get this guy a slot in the new $500,000 3-year-old race on Show Day,” says Hollis.

“And if he is going well enough to do that we would probably stay down there for the NZ Derby [boosted to $300,000].
“Then he could even come back here for the Golden Gait Finals night, which is worth $100,000 so these good 3-year-olds can race for big money.”
Whether he starts down that path by winning tonight may well depend on tempo and the early scramble as with plenty of fit horses in this field capable of a sub 2:40 for the 2200m mobile, being off the markers may not be a lot of fun.

Friday night bets

1: Jasinova (Alex Park, R5, No 1) Run down late in far better field last Friday. If she races up to that form should win.

2: Always B Elite (Alex Park, R3, No 6): Raced elite three-year-olds last campaign and second in very quick last 800m workouts a fortnight ago. Has class edge.

3: The Bettor Deal (Addington, R3, No 1): Ran on really strongly on debut and big driving change tonight. If he can stay handier the one to beat.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.