Latest news with #Hickmott
Courier-Mail
6 days ago
- Sport
- Courier-Mail
SA trainer Michael Hickmott says winning Group 1 Queensland Derby will be ‘pinnacle of my career'
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News. And the planets are aligning for the gelding to notch his fourth victory in just his sixth race this weekend, with champion jockey Craig Williams riding from barrier one. Party Crasher is an $8 chance with bookmakers in the 2400m feature, behind South Australian Derby runner-up Statuario ($6) and the John O'Shea and Tom Charlton-trained King Of Thunder ($7). • 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 fantastic to get Craig booked on the horse. He'd done a fair bit of research and seemed pretty keen to ride the horse,' said Hickmott, the younger brother of two-time Melbourne Cup-winning training Robert. 'I'm very happy with how the horse is. The biggest step is how he travels. 'He's in good order and he's very fit. It looks like he'll run 2400m and if it's a wet track that's no disadvantage either.' Party Crasher travelled from Adelaide to Melbourne by truck and then flew to Brisbane on Tuesday. Asked what it would mean to collect the $600,000 winner's cheque in his first crack at a Group 1, Hickmott was unequivocal in his response. South Australian stayer Party Crasher is among the leading chances in the Group 1 Queensland Derby on Saturday. Picture: Makoto Kaneko • Queensland Derby tips, runner-by-runner form analysis 'It would certainly be the pinnacle of my career. I've won a South Australian metropolitan premiership (2020-21) but I haven't even had a runner in a Group 1,' he said. 'My business model had always revolved around selling horses to Asia if they've kind of identified anywhere near that grade. 'It was fantastic for the ownership group to elect to run Party Crasher on and not look at offers coming in for the horse. 'They're really excited about this weekend. We've got mums and dads, corporate businessmen in Melbourne to lawyers in Sydney to an accountant in Alice Springs. 'There's a broad group of owners from all around the country.' Hickmott's nephew Josh, with the help of former presenter Jayne Ivil and her partner Brad Taylor, identified Party Crasher as a potential recruit from New Zealand. • Femminile chasing Derby double in new colours His uncle was suitably impressed when the horse won an 800m trial on a heavy track at Rotorua last September and once he had negotiated a deal, it didn't take long for the three-year-old to be syndicated. 'He went out to a good group of our current clients and he was syndicated very quickly,' Hickmott said about the son of Ocean Park. 'We've got a good record purchasing horses from New Zealand.' Hickmott said he knew he had a Group 1 contender on his hands when Party Crasher won a Benchmark 66 (2009m) by 1½ lengths on SA Derby Day early this month. 'It's an extremely strong race,' he said about the Queensland Derby, won last year by Warmonger. 'It'd be a big thrill for the ownership group – win, lose or draw – but I suspect if the horse travels well then he will perform really well.' Originally published as South Australian trainer Michael Hickmott says winning Group 1 Queensland Derby with Party Crasher will be career high
Sydney Morning Herald
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
2003: To Rohan, Barass and Knightsy – I'm sorry
Vale Robert Walls, a fixture of the VFL/AFL for 50 years and longtime football columnist for The Age. Read the best of his past columns here. See all 9 stories. This opinion piece by The Age's late columnist Robert Walls was first published on May 23, 2003. I let Western Bulldogs dasher Rohan Smith down last week. I regret what I did and wish I could turn back time, but that can't happen. With me as 'special comments' man with 3AW, we covered last Sunday's Carlton-Bulldogs game. During the second quarter, Carlton forward Adrian Hickmott was forced to leave the field with blood trickling from his forehead. I didn't see what happened. Two people near me, who were not members of the commentary team, assured me that Rohan Smith had bitten Hickmott. They had watched replays of the pair rolling on the ground on a TV monitor. Irresponsibly, I said on air that 'there could have been a bite involved in Hickmott's leaving the field'. I didn't mention Smith's name, but I didn't have to for the finger to be pointed at him. Two days after the game, the AFL held an investigation into why Hickmott left the field. The investigation didn't last long as it was obvious there was no case to answer. That same morning Rohan rang me to express his disappointment at what I had said on radio. I'm glad he called as he had every right to. The bottom line for me is, learn a lesson, and that is, think before you speak and don't go on hearsay. I have apologised to Rohan and regret the pressure I put upon him. Football, being a very public, competitive, emotional business, inevitably leads to some poor decisions being made and regrets do follow. Sometimes our greatest regrets are for things we didn't do. I regret not belting Ian Stewart when he, after his first game as coach of Carlton, told me, the captain, that I hadn't tried. He'd been there two minutes, me 12 years. I'd bled for the navy Blues, he hadn't. That I didn't give him one still rankles. I regret not playing 300 games. It is an achievement that less than one per cent of AFL players attain. Those who do are in a class of their own. They have passed the severest of tests. I regret that I gave Peter Knights an ankle tap. The game was in the '70s at Glenferrie Oval. For years the fair Hawk with the fair hair had the better of me. In frustration, I put the slipper into his ankle. It wasn't a vicious kick, but it was unnecessary and unfair. At the time I thought about writing a letter of apology, but never did.
The Age
15-05-2025
- Sport
- The Age
2003: To Rohan, Barass and Knightsy – I'm sorry
Vale Robert Walls, a fixture of the VFL/AFL for 50 years and longtime football columnist for The Age. Read the best of his past columns here. See all 9 stories. This opinion piece by The Age's late columnist Robert Walls was first published on May 23, 2003. I let Western Bulldogs dasher Rohan Smith down last week. I regret what I did and wish I could turn back time, but that can't happen. With me as 'special comments' man with 3AW, we covered last Sunday's Carlton-Bulldogs game. During the second quarter, Carlton forward Adrian Hickmott was forced to leave the field with blood trickling from his forehead. I didn't see what happened. Two people near me, who were not members of the commentary team, assured me that Rohan Smith had bitten Hickmott. They had watched replays of the pair rolling on the ground on a TV monitor. Irresponsibly, I said on air that 'there could have been a bite involved in Hickmott's leaving the field'. I didn't mention Smith's name, but I didn't have to for the finger to be pointed at him. Two days after the game, the AFL held an investigation into why Hickmott left the field. The investigation didn't last long as it was obvious there was no case to answer. That same morning Rohan rang me to express his disappointment at what I had said on radio. I'm glad he called as he had every right to. The bottom line for me is, learn a lesson, and that is, think before you speak and don't go on hearsay. I have apologised to Rohan and regret the pressure I put upon him. Football, being a very public, competitive, emotional business, inevitably leads to some poor decisions being made and regrets do follow. Sometimes our greatest regrets are for things we didn't do. I regret not belting Ian Stewart when he, after his first game as coach of Carlton, told me, the captain, that I hadn't tried. He'd been there two minutes, me 12 years. I'd bled for the navy Blues, he hadn't. That I didn't give him one still rankles. I regret not playing 300 games. It is an achievement that less than one per cent of AFL players attain. Those who do are in a class of their own. They have passed the severest of tests. I regret that I gave Peter Knights an ankle tap. The game was in the '70s at Glenferrie Oval. For years the fair Hawk with the fair hair had the better of me. In frustration, I put the slipper into his ankle. It wasn't a vicious kick, but it was unnecessary and unfair. At the time I thought about writing a letter of apology, but never did.
