Blast From The Past: Stewards' Cup

Hawkeyethenoo was retired last month after picking up a minor injury, and at the age of eleven, connections decided it best to call an end to his successful career.  The popular gelding started out with Mick Easterby in 2008, but the improvement he showed when joining Jim Goldie was nothing short of superb.  Hawkeyethenoo’s success wasn’t instant, however, as Racehorses reported:

‘Hawkeyethenoo started off with Mick Easterby and has been anything but an overnight success. Down the field in four starts at two, it wasn't until his fifth outing the following season that he opened his account, when racing off a BHA mark of 51 in an apprentice handicap over a mile at Beverley. Hawkeyethenoo joined Goldie later that season and, dropped to five furlongs, won two more handicaps. Continuing his improvement, Hawkeyethenoo won three races as a four-year-old, including the Sky Bet Dash at York’

Hawkeyethenoo announced himself a smart performer when winning the Victoria Cup at Ascot by two and a half lengths from Manassas in 2011. He made his reappearance in that race the following year under new rider Graham Lee, who won the Grand National on Amberleigh House in 2014, but had recently made the switch to ride on the Flat. Hawkeyethenoo shaped well, finishing third in the unfavoured group that raced down the centre, and went from strength to strength from there, to be placed in the Wokingham at Royal Ascot and fifth to Mayson in the July Cup. However, his win in the Stewards’ Cup was the highlight of his season, as Racehorses recounted:

‘Hawkeyethenoo, ridden in all of his races by Lee, was successful just the once, but that win came in the Blue Square Bet Stewards' Cup at Goodwood in August and gave Lee his biggest win on the Flat to date. Third place in the Wokingham at Royal Ascot, where he received a bump over a furlong out, pointed to Hawkeyethenoo's chance in the Stewards' Cup, another highly-competitive handicap run over six furlongs, and in a field of twenty-seven he went off third favourite at 9/1. The particular demands of the Stewards' Cup are unlike any that Lee would have experienced over jumps, but the race could not have gone more smoothly for him. Hawkeyethenoo travelled strongly just behind the leaders in the far-side group, enjoyed a clear run through on the rail when asked for his effort and found plenty to edge ahead well inside the final furlong, winning by a nose from Imperial Guest.’

Class told in the end, with Hawkeyethenoo, carrying 1 lb less than top-weight Palace Moon (9-10), showing himself to be as good as ever. The favourite, Waffle, was arguably unlucky not to win the Wokingham on his previous start, and his proximity to the winner marked the race down as a strong renewal. The Steward’s Cup turned out to be not only Hawkeythenoo’s most prestigious win of his career, but also his joint-highest performance rating, running to a figure of 115, as he did when winning the Victoria Cup. That form made him a player in pattern company and, although he never went on to win at that level, he managed to hit the frame three times in 2013, including in the Group 1 Sprint Cup at Haydock. He went on to contest pattern races and top-end handicaps for the next couple of years, though his ability steadily declined – his final win came in a 7f handicap at Ascot in July 2016 off a BHA mark of 80.