Divine Prophet continued Sydney's domination of the Caulfield Guineas
Sydney three-year-olds have continued their domination of the Caulfield Guineas with Divine Prophet taking out the Group One race at Caulfield.
It was the sixth-straight NSW win in the 1600m classic for three-year-olds following the victories of Helmet, All Too Hard, Long John, Shooting To Win and Press Statement.
Ridden by Dwayne Dunn, Divine Prophet ($7) scored by a head from Seaburge ($31) with Hey Doc ($11) a half-length away third.
Divine Prophet remains in contention for the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley on October 22 although Wayne Hawkes, who trains in partnership with father John and brother Michael, said that was a decision to be made at a later date.
John Hawkes prepared Lonhro to win the Caulfield Guineas in 2001 and All Too Hard in 2012.
“He’s still in the Cox Plate but Lonhro won this race and we didn’t run him in the Cox Plate,” Hawkes said.
“We’ll put the horse first. We were here for the Caulfield Guineas and he got the job done.”
All Too Hard went on to run in the Cox Plate, finishing second to Ocean Park.
Hawkes said the inside draw in the 13-horse field had been decisive in Divine Prophet landing his first Group One race.
He said the Sydney three-year-old form had stood up this season with Divine Prophet’s win and Global Glamour earlier taking out the Thousand Guineas.
“The Sydney two-year-olds from last season were the best two-year-olds and they’ve franked the form,” Hawkes said.
“They’re a great bunch of three-year-olds this lot.”
Dunn said the task of taking on Winx and Hartnell in the Cox Plate would be a huge task.
However Dunn said Divine Prophet was not in the same league as All Too Hard.
“It will be a big step forward to take them on but I’m sure Johnny would train him a bit different to get the trip and then worry about the rest after that,” Dunn said.
Co-trainer David Hayes said he thought Seaburge was going to provide him with his fourth winner for the meeting when the colt unleashed a powerful run inside the final 200m.
“I really thought when he arrived he was going to win,” said Hayes.
“I didn’t see the Hawkes horse on the inside.
“It was oh so close and he ran brilliantly.”
