A Rosehill race designed as a springboard into the summer carnival for one horse is shaping as a career crossroads for his stablemate.
God’s In Him, early favourite for the Schweppes Farewells Jimmy Cassidy Handicap, returns from a freshen-up on Saturday ahead of a campaign that will encompass the Villiers Stakes and Magic Millions carnival at the Gold Coast.
God’s In Him
The winner of five of his 12 starts, God’s In Him has co-trainer Michael Hawkes cautious about the burden of 61kg, but he has no such reservations about the horse’s talent.
“The weight is the only factor but it is what it is,” Hawkes said.
“He’s a winner and he puts himself in the right spot.”
Mecir hasn’t been a winner for the stable since his Newcastle Newmarket success in the autumn of last year.
He returns to Sydney after a three-start Melbourne spring campaign where his best result was a sixth in a Listed race at Caulfield.
Hawkes says the seven-year-old needs to lift.
“To be fair, he doesn’t really like the Melbourne way of going, or wet tracks,” Hawkes said.
“He needs to do something, but once again, the weight hurts him.”
Lightly raced sprinter Le Cordon Bleu resumes in the Chris Waller Racing Farewells Jim Cassidy Handicap while the stable will also saddle up Binary in the final event.
But it is a horse racing on the other side of the country that has put a spring in Hawkes’ step.
Fourth to subsequent Cox Plate winner Winx in the Epsom Handicap, Messene closed strongly once he found clear running in a Group Three race at Flemington last start.
It is form Hawkes figures is good enough to give Messene a genuine chance in Saturday’s $1 million Railway Stakes in Perth.
“He hasn’t won for a very long time but he’s probably in career-best form,” Hawkes said.
“The horse has travelled well and I’ve got a little twinkle in my eye that he’s going to perform at his best.”
