Following Wimbledon Hawkeye’s impressive fifth-place finish in the 2000 Guineas, James Owen is daydreaming of winning the Betfred Derby. Owen is now excited about the prospect of taking the colt up in trip after stating before the son of Kameko’s Newmarket performance that a top-five finish would be the ideal prelude to a run at the Epsom Classic. “We believe he will improve for a step up in trip, and that’s what he showed at Newmarket really,” Owen said. “He settled nicely and stayed on well, I thought.” “The Derby is the main goal with him, but we’ll keep an eye on the Dante. We have plenty of time until Epsom, and he’s had his first two runs for the season and it’s exciting to go to Epsom with him.
“I thought his trial was excellent, and he deserves his spot in the Derby.” In my opinion, he improved somewhat after his run at Craven and is a horse that got better with each outing last year. But above all, I believe he is begging for a trip up. When they all faced off in the Acomb Stakes at York last summer, Wimbledon Hawkeye is as short as 25-1 in places for the Derby and divided the market leaders for the premier classic, Aidan O’Brien’s The Lion in Winter (first) and Charlie Appleby’s 2000 Guineas hero Ruling Court (third).
The colt, owned by the Gredley Family, won Group Two at the Royal Lodge when he was two years old. He will now try to surpass the owners’ Ambiente Friendly, who finished second to City of Troy at Epsom a year ago. Owen, who will saddle his first runner in the Derby in just his second season of training on the Flat, went on to say, “It’s unbelievable to have such a horse and it was great to have a Guineas runner and he ran with huge credit – and it will be fantastic to have a Derby runner.” “I’m excited for the trip, and he’s a well-balanced colt who should enjoy the track.”
