Black Caviar’s half-brother All Too Hard has virtually been ruled out of next week’s Blue Diamond Stakes despite upholding a family tradition and winning his race debut at Flemington.
All Too Hard winning the Talindert Stakes at Flemington - photo by Race Horse Photos Australia
Owned by Nathan Tinkler, the $1.025 million colt is assured of a start in the $1 million Diamond but co-trainer Wayne Hawkes said he “could not take up the option of running”.
“He’s not the sort of horse to be backing up week to week,” Hawkes, who prepares the two-year-old with his father John and brother Michael, said.
“I know Redoute’s (Choice) did it but he was pretty special.
“I am not saying this bloke’s not but it is just not in this bloke’s nature to go and do that.
“You start giving them a jam now and you could be in a bit of trouble.”
All Too Hard was the centre of attention with a crowd forming around his stall before Saturday’s first race, the Listed Talindert Stakes (1100m).
“I don’t think there has been that many people for race one for a long, long time,” Hawkes said.
He said he expected All Too Hard would win his debut just as Black Caviar did and her full-brother Moshe who, trained by Team Hawkes, won three of his five starts.
Hawkes said the stable had deliberately tried to play down expectations on All Too Hard but it was confident after he scored a soft win in a jumpout at Flemington last Friday.
“This was a nice little race for him and it’s onwards and upwards from here,” he said.”
Backed from $3.30 to $2.90 favouritism late in betting, All Too Hard was travelling well with Dwayne Dunn waiting for his moment to strike on the youngster who scored unextended by 1-1/2 lengths from Diamond contenders Liberty Rock ($6) and Timely Truce ($13).
Dunn said it took a while for the colt to let go but when he did that the race was over pretty quickly, describing him as of the best two-year-olds he has ridden.
“Once I picked up the stick on him and asked him for an effort, gee, he put them away quickly, pinned his ears and really wanted to run to the line,” he said.
The Golden Slipper Stakes remains an option for All Too Hard but so too does the Sires’ Produce Stakes and Champagne Stakes in Sydney.
“He is in all those races but we don’t know what we will do,” Hawkes said.
One thing Hawkes does know is that All Too Hard is a superior horse to Moshe who he rated a Listed-grade horse.
“He’s a much better horse. Moshe only won a Saturday race but was good enough to be a black-type horse and this bloke has now won a stakes race already so she (the dam Helsinge) might be the Australian version of Eight Carat,” Hawkes said.
A New Zealand-based broodmare, Eight Carat produced five Group One winners including the John Hawkes-trained champion Octagonal.
AAP TURF
