Mr Mozart may have earned himself a short at the Caulfield Guineas after a hard-fought victory at Flemington.
The outsider of two Hawkes Racing-trained runners, Mr Mozart led home the field in the Listed Exford Plate (1400m) on Saturday with the more fancied Hawkes runner Hilal filling third place.
Co-trainer Wayne Hawkes, who prepares the three-year-olds in partnership with his father John and brother Michael, said the pair may head in different directions after Saturday’s race.
Under the urgings of Fred Kersley, Mr Mozart ($14) dug deep to hold off the $1.60 favourite Artorius to score by a half-neck with Hilal ($6.50) a long-neck away third.
Hawkes said Mr Mozart could now be a contender for the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) next month while he would let the dust settle before pinpointing where Hilal may head.
“They’re both in the same sort of races but I told dear old dad that he’s a Caulfield Guineas horse, Mr Mozart, when he worked about three weeks ago, so that is looking pretty good,” Hawkes said.
“I don’t know about HIlal. You never make a decision on race day but we might think about taking him back to Sydney and running him up there.
“There’s a lot to contend with. We had two horses and got the job done and one did everything wrong and nearly won.
“They’re two great quality colts there.”
Hawkes said the rise in distance to 1400m suited Mr Mozart while noting that the rise from 1200m can bring undone other horses.
“A rise of 200 metres in the racing industry is a hell of a long way and with most young horses it throws a real curveball,” Hawkes said.
“We see it in the Slipper to the Sires’ Produce every year, lots of horses over-race and do the wrong thing so we were really looking forward to Mr Mozart getting out to 1400 and he did a good job.”
