Team Hawkes
Trainer, Starlight Australia
TEAM Hawkes makes a habit of coming first – both on and off the racetrack.
Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes were the first three-person training partnership in Australian racing. They were the first training partnership to saddle up a runner in Sydney racing, winning with their first-ever runner – Real Saga in the 2008 Listed Breeders Plate. They also prepared the first Group One winner by a training partnership in Sydney racing when Fiumicino won the 2009 The BMW on Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill Gardens.
After almost a decade in operation, the Team Hawkes stable has enjoyed unbridled success, producing more than 700 winners, 15 at Group One level, a total of 95 stakes wins and stable earnings exceeding $50 million.
The stable has enjoyed many memorable moments during this period, most notably with champion sprinter, Chautauqua. The “Grey Flash” was the world’s top-rated sprinter in 2016 and 2017 and has built an outstanding race record, both nationally and abroad.
The system works very, well. With Michael in charge of the main stable base at Rosehill Gardens and Wayne holding the reins at the team’s Flemington stable base, John splits his time between the two states as the winners keep flowing from Team Hawkes.