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Hawkes hoping for The Everest-Eureka slot race double
Hawkes hoping for The Everest-Eureka slot race double

Herald Sun

time2 days ago

  • Sport
  • Herald Sun

Hawkes hoping for The Everest-Eureka slot race double

Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News. HALL of Fame trainer John Hawkes hopes to have runners in the biggest slot races of both Australia's equine codes. His exciting sprinter Briasa is already locked in for the $20 million TAB The Everest on October 18 through the slot held by Max Whitby, Steve McCann, Colin Madden and Neil Werrett. Now Hawkes and his harness trainer, Geoff Webster, are hunting for a slot in the world's richest harness race, the $2.1 million TAB Eureka, with emerging three-year-old Seathestars at Menangle on September 6. Hawkes has always had a passion for harness racing and has owned '25 or more' pacers over the years, but Seathestars is potentially the best yet. The gelding won three races on end, including the South-East Derby at Albion Park on July 5, before a slashing and luckless fourth in the $150,000 Group 1 Queensland Derby last Saturday night. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Seathestars drew outside the back row, sat near the rear and defied the pattern of racing to storm home into fourth spot behind star Kiwi pacer Rubira, which led throughout. 'I thought his run was great,' Hawkes said. 'You couldn't ask for any more from where he drew and how far back he was. He's always shown ability, but he keeps improving and that's the exciting part. READ: 'The shoulder has had enough': Digger calls time on career 'Geoff (Webster) mentioned The Eureka and I let him call the shots. If he thinks the horse is good enough to aim for it, then I'm onboard. 'It's a race for three and four-year-olds and the four-year-old crop doesn't look overly strong this year, so it could be a year for a three-year-old to win it. 'It would be exciting to have a runner in The Everest and The Eureka.' Exciting pacer Seathestars could be on a path towards The TAB Eureka Picture: Stuart McCormick Webster added: 'I've always liked him, but on what he's done the past few weeks, especially in the Derby, he's even better than I thought he was.' Hawkes said Briasa would return to his Rosehill stables this week and had thrived during his time out. 'I think he can go up another notch this campaign, but he'll need to, given the races we're aiming at,' he said. 'Most of what he's done so far has been on raw ability. 'The timing is perfect for him to have a crack at a race like The Everest. He's lightly raced and still on the up. It's the right time of his career.' READ: Rebecca's winning ride leaves egg on some faces Briasa boasts seven wins from just 10 starts, including the Group 1 TJ Smith, and hasn't raced since a fourth in the All Aged Stakes at Randwick on April 19. 'Forgive that run, he just wasn't quite ready and mature enough for the 1400m,' Hawkes said. Briasa is $8 third favourite behind Hong Kong sensation Ka Ying Rising and the exciting Private Harry in latest The Everest markets. Hawkes is looking forward to the challenge against Ka Ying Rising. 'He's clearly a very good horse, but I'm not scared of him. You want to race the best,' he said. 'I know my horse has the potential to improve a lot on what we've seen so far, so I'm excited about getting the chance to take on a horse like him (Ka Ying Rising), especially in our own backyard.' · Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp. Originally published as Hall Of Fame trainer John Hawkes hopes to have runners in the biggest slot races of both equine codes

Athletics NZ Announces Inaugural Short Track Championships
Athletics NZ Announces Inaugural Short Track Championships

Scoop

time22-06-2025

  • Sport
  • Scoop

Athletics NZ Announces Inaugural Short Track Championships

Athletics New Zealand is delighted to announce the addition of the short track championships, set to debut at the Mitre 10 Hawke's Bay Sports Park next year. The chance for athletes to mark their names in history as the first ever short track champions is set to be a significant draw card. The New Zealand Short Track Championships will be held in conjunction with the Allan and Sylvia Potts Classic and will kick off the 2026 Summer Circuit in January. The partnership with the Allan and Sylvia Potts Classic has been confirmed through to 2028, with the Hawkes Bay hosting the championships for the next three years. Partnering with the Allan and Sylvia Potts Classic and Athletics Hawkes Bay Gisborne brings a top national tier event together with strong organisational experience to deliver the historic championships. Inaugural short track champions will be crowned over the 60m, 60m hurdles, high jump, long jump, triple jump, pole vault, and shot put. In addition, the national championships for the 300m hurdles will be staged for the first time for U20 and Senior athletes. The outstanding indoor facility at the Mitre10 Sports Park will allow some short track disciplines to be held indoors, a first for a senior national athletics championship in New Zealand. A crucial world rankings opportunity is on the cards ahead of international events in 2026. Top kiwi athletes will earn points to qualify for the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland and the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. The wider Potts Classic will also be designated as a World Athletics D meeting, ensuring all athletes competing at the Potts Classic will earn world-ranking points at the D level. By offering athletes a world-class domestic opportunity to compete in short track events, Athletics New Zealand continues to invest in improving opportunities for athlete performance, building domestic depth, and providing meaningful stepping stones to global success. Athletics NZ CEO Cam Mitchell said the New Zealand Short Track Championships are a major step forward in evolving the sport's competition offerings. 'With New Zealand athletes consistently delivering on the global stage, it's critical that our domestic competition structure keeps pace. The launch of the New Zealand Short Track Championships reflects our commitment to creating world-class performance opportunities here at home," said Mitchell. "Short track athletics is growing internationally, and we're proud to bring this championship opportunity to our domestic calendar. The Hawke's Bay Sports Park, with its outstanding facilities, gives us a unique chance to build an exciting new event that benefits our athletes, our fans, and the next generation coming through.' New Zealand 100m resident record holder Tiaan Whelpton is thrilled to have the opportunity to chase a national title over 60m. 'I'm beyond excited to have our first short track nationals in New Zealand, and the thought of being possibly New Zealand's first 60m champion gets me very excited.' Whelpton was also complimentary of heading to the sunny Hawkes Bay for the Championships, 'Hastings is a fantastic venue for it, it's probably one of the quickest tracks we have in New Zealand, and I cannot wait to fly over the 60m next year.' The meeting director of the Allan and Sylvia Potts Classic, Richard Potts, was thrilled to host the inaugural championships alongside the long-standing classic. " The Allan and Sylvia Potts Classic is proud to be part of Athletics New Zealand's announcement today that we will be hosting New Zealand's first-ever Short Track Championships here in Hawke's Bay for the next three years! This exciting development allows us to showcase New Zealand's best athletes, alongside top international and our domestic talent, to our local community. We're equally proud to continue honouring our legacy by keeping the Allan and Sylvia Potts Memorial 800m events at the heart of the meet. We can't wait to bring world-class racing to Hawke's Bay and inspire the next generation of athletes!" New Zealand has enjoyed a golden period at the World Indoor Championships, with Hamish Kerr capturing high jump gold in Glasgow 2024 and silver in Nanjing 2025, and Tom Walsh claiming his third World Indoor shot-put title in Nanjing. Historic achievements showcase the impact that short track and indoor athletics can have for Kiwi athletes on the global stage About Athletics NZ: Athletics NZ is the national governing body of Athletics in New Zealand. Athletics NZ exists to deliver great athletics experiences. We work with our partners, sponsors and stakeholders across New Zealand to support our growing network of clubs, communities and their members. We provide an affiliation and support structure that aims to ensure there are safe, fun and accessible opportunities for all to participate, from pre-schoolers through to adults. As a World Athletics member, Athletics New Zealand is tasked with enhancing and promoting all aspects of athletics activity in New Zealand. From grass roots community participation to international high-performance competition, disciplines include track and field athletics, cross country running, mountain running, road running, road walking as well as associated programmes and development initiatives.

Rising youth crime allowed to fester on Labor's watch
Rising youth crime allowed to fester on Labor's watch

The Age

time20-06-2025

  • Politics
  • The Age

Rising youth crime allowed to fester on Labor's watch

'We cannot arrest our way out of this. It's that simple … The whole arrest, charge, bail, remand, court system, justice system, youth detention, can't be just the answer.' When Victoria Police's Sergeant Tem Hawkes said these words to The Age two years ago, rising youth crime was already a long-standing problem. As we reported in our youth crime investigation in 2023, adolescents and early teenagers (aged 10-14) were the fastest-growing cohort of youth offenders involved in violent crime. At Werribee Police Station, Hawkes and his fellow officers were part of the Embedded Youth Outreach Program (EYOP), in which youth workers accompanied police on patrols to try to give young people a pathway out of crime. The program was not born out of woolly idealism but out of a hard-headed assessment by all involved that traditional law-and-order responses weren't working, and could in fact be making things worse. Its interventions with young people reduced their reoffending, even as rates of offending beyond the program continued to rise, according to a Swinburne University evaluation that forecast 1000 fewer offences on an annual basis as a result. This week's news that youth crime is reaching record levels comes against a very different backdrop. The state government, struggling with budgetary woes in other areas, has cut back funding to EYOP and the Youth Support and Advocacy Service, which provides the program with social workers, and returned to pouring money into prisons. All the while there is real community concern about rising crime rates, especially youth crime, with neighbourhoods increasingly turning to private security and home-surveillance devices. From Labor promising to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 – a first step to dealing with the youngest offenders outside the setting of jail, which is proven to turn many of them into adult criminals – we now have Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny measuring success by the doubling of young people on remand since last year. Loading From its reversal on changing the age of criminal responsibility to the about-face on bail laws to the recent hop, skip and jump to a machete ban after the Northland shopping centre brawl, the Allan government gives the impression of making up its responses on the run, after scanning the headlines and considering only the political optics.

Call Da Vinci has BRC Sires' Produce odds slashed after Ipswich win on Wednesday
Call Da Vinci has BRC Sires' Produce odds slashed after Ipswich win on Wednesday

Courier-Mail

time23-05-2025

  • Sport
  • Courier-Mail

Call Da Vinci has BRC Sires' Produce odds slashed after Ipswich win on Wednesday

Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News. Bookmakers have slashed the odds of gelding Call Da Vinci to win next week's Group 2 BRC Sires' Produce Stakes from $100 to $26 following his gutsy victory in the Sacred Elixir 2YO handicap (1350m) at Ipswich on Wednesday. The Bevan Laming-trained Call Da Vinci ($4.20) wore down $1.90 favourite Navy Pilot, who overraced early and felt the strain of the 60kg topweight in the straight to finish runner-up, ahead of North Pole ($4.20), in the seven-horse race on a Heavy 8 track. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'It was a good ride,' co-trainer Richard Laming said of Jaden Lloyd's steer in the 1350m race, which was shifted from the Sunshine Coast to Ipswich due to poor track conditions. 'It wasn't our plan but in hindsight it was good that the horse could sit off the speed, peel out and really put them away like he did. 'It was very good to see him be strong through the line like he was there today.' The Hawkes team's colt Gallo Nero is the $4 favourite for the $1m BRC Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m) on Saturday week at Eagle Farm. Aerodrome ($6), Grafterburners ($8), Beksar and Cool Archie (both $11) are on the next line of betting. Call Da Vinci franked the form out of the $300,000 Group 2 Spirit of Boom Classic (1200m) won by Cool Archie, who defeated classy colt Gallo Nero and fellow Queensland star sprinter Grafterburners. • Shinn in emotional history-making Doomben Cup mission He finished runner-up to the Chris and Corey Munce-trained Cool Archie in a 2YO maiden at Doomben on a heavy track on April 16. 'Well he keeps stepping up too – he's now a Listed winner and a Group 2 winner,' Laming said about Cool Archie. 'It's all strong form so it's good heading to where we're heading (the BTC Sires Produce). 'They had me on the radio this morning and I was nearly going to say 'we should be backing him (Call Da Vinci) now just in case he does win (in Ipswich)'. 'I'm pretty sure he won't be one hundreds. But he's got to pull up OK and it's only 10 days away. 'He's only a two-year-old and there's plenty of water to go under the bridge. He'll go back to the farm and be back in town next week for the water-walker and a bit of beach work.' Bevan Laming also trained Call Da Vinci's mum Calzini, who was sired by Shamus Award. Lloyd said Call Da Vinci had developed a habit of starting his races slowly but it didn't stop him on Wednesday against Ciaron Maher's well-backed favourite Navy Pilot. 'I didn't panic because I know the ability the horse has,' Lloyd said. 'I was quite happy to be on the back of the favourite because he (Call Da Vinci) is a better horse if he has something to chase. 'He's a tough horse. He's only small but he's very tenacious.' Originally published as Call Da Vinci has BRC Sires' Produce odds slashed from $100 to $26 after Ipswich win on Wednesday

Call Da Vinci has BRC Sires' Produce odds slashed after Ipswich win on Wednesday
Call Da Vinci has BRC Sires' Produce odds slashed after Ipswich win on Wednesday

Herald Sun

time21-05-2025

  • Sport
  • Herald Sun

Call Da Vinci has BRC Sires' Produce odds slashed after Ipswich win on Wednesday

Bookmakers have slashed the odds of gelding Call Da Vinci to win next week's Group 2 BRC Sires' Produce Stakes from $100 to $26 following his gutsy victory in the Sacred Elixir 2YO handicap (1350m) at Ipswich on Wednesday. The Bevan Laming-trained Call Da Vinci ($4.20) wore down $1.90 favourite Navy Pilot, who overraced early and felt the strain of the 60kg topweight in the straight to finish runner-up, ahead of North Pole ($4.20), in the seven-horse race on a Heavy 8 track. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! 'It was a good ride,' co-trainer Richard Laming said of apprentice Jaden Lloyd's steer in the 1350m race, which was shifted from the Sunshine Coast to Ipswich due to poor track conditions. 'It wasn't our plan but in hindsight it was good that the horse could sit off the speed, peel out and really put them away like he did. 'It was very good to see him be strong through the line like he was there today.' The Hawkes team's colt Gallo Nero is the $4 favourite for the $1m BRC Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m) on Saturday week at Eagle Farm. Aerodrome ($6), Grafterburners ($8), Beksar and Cool Archie (both $11) are on the next line of betting. Call Da Vinci franked the form out of the $300,000 Group 2 Spirit of Boom Classic (1200m) won by Cool Archie, who defeated classy colt Gallo Nero and fellow Queensland star sprinter Grafterburners. • Shinn in emotional history-making Doomben Cup mission He finished runner-up to the Chris and Corey Munce-trained Cool Archie in a 2YO maiden at Doomben on a heavy track on April 16. 'Well he keeps stepping up too – he's now a Listed winner and a Group 2 winner,' Laming said about Cool Archie. 'It's all strong form so it's good heading to where we're heading (the BTC Sires Produce). 'They had me on the radio this morning and I was nearly going to say 'we should be backing him (Call Da Vinci) now just in case he does win (in Ipswich)'. 'I'm pretty sure he won't be one hundreds. But he's got to pull up OK and it's only 10 days away. 'He's only a two-year-old and there's plenty of water to go under the bridge. He'll go back to the farm and be back in town next week for the water-walker and a bit of beach work.' Bevan Laming also trained Call Da Vinci's mum Calzini, who was sired by Shamus Award. Lloyd said Call Da Vinci had developed a habit of starting his races slowly but it didn't stop him on Wednesday against Ciaron Maher's well-backed favourite Navy Pilot. 'I didn't panic because I know the ability the horse has,' Lloyd said. 'I was quite happy to be on the back of the favourite because he (Call Da Vinci) is a better horse if he has something to chase. 'He's a tough horse. He's only small but he's very tenacious.' Originally published as Call Da Vinci has BRC Sires' Produce odds slashed from $100 to $26 after Ipswich win on Wednesday

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