Fuimicino, a special horse to the Hawkes Racing team, will be out to show he’s still got some of his old spark in Saturday’s Listed Premier’s Cup.
The nine-year-old returns to Sydney after kicking off his campaign in the PB Lawrence Stakes (1400m) in Melbourne and co-trainer Michael Hawkes is looking forward to the gelding stepping up to 1800m at Rosehill.
“He was our first Group One winner for the training partnership (in the 2009 BMW),” said Hawkes, who helps train teams in Sydney and Melbourne with his father John and brother Wayne.
“He’s had his ups and downs but this time around everything is going well, touch wood, and he’s showing little signs that he’s something like his old self.”
Fiumicino was beaten almost 10 lengths first-up but Hawkes was pleased with the performance over a distance well short of his best.
“He was going well before he went down there and has come back well and is on song for where he’s got to be,” he said.
“He might be a Metrop (Group One Metropolitan) horse, that’s where we’re going to head and he might even get to the Caulfield Cup.”
Fiumicino is raced by Nick Moraitis who also owns Melbourne Cup hopeful Maluckyday who resumes in the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday.
The Gwenda Markwell-trained Peal Of Bells, meanwhile, will undergo a veterinary inspection before the Premier’s Cup.
Peal Of Bells slipped over at Markwell’s Kembla Grange stables last Sunday and sustained abrasions to his hip and shoulder.
Markwell told stewards the promising stayer hasn’t missed any work after being passed fit by her stable’s vet.