Black Caviar’s half brother All Too Hard to debut at Flemington

The debut appearance of two year old All Too Hard for Team Hawkes won’t draw the overwhelming fanfare as big sister Black Caviar attracts but is certain to create a following of his own at Flemington on Saturday.

All Too Hard is the unbeaten champion’s little half brother by Casino Prince out of Helsinge who mining billionaire Nathan Tinkler picked up at the Inglis Easter Sydney sales for the tidy sum of $1.025m.

Team Hawkes, which consists of father John and sons Wayne and Michael have kept the progress of the colt  fairly quiet but expects the two year old to develop into a nice horse.

At this stage of his career it is hard to tell what levels All Too Hard will rise to but Team Hawkes and Tinkler will have some idea after he contests the Listed $100,000 Talindert Stakes (1100m) at Flemington on Saturday.

Wayne Hawkes said that All Too Hard doesn’t get any royal treatment and is just another member of the stable.

The most important thing is that All Too Hard doesn’t know who he’s related to,” Wayne Hawkes said.

“He doesn’t have to be as good as Black Caviar to be very successful. You can have all the comparisons, all that sort of stuff and he’s going to be scrutinised big time, but it’s not fair to the horse.

“If he’s successful they’ll say so he should be, but if he’s not people will say I told you so.”

Win or lose on Saturday, All Too Hard won’t even get a chance to tell big sister how he went or give her any tips or even join in the Black Caviar cheer squad.

The Casino Prince colt competes in race one of the day and will be well and truly back home in his stable when Black Caviar takes on the best sprinters in Australia in the Group 1 $750,000 Coolmore Lightning Stakes (1000m) shooting for her nineteenth straight victory to keep her unbeaten record in tact.

Team Hawkes have been through it all before with Black Caviar’s full brother Moshe who won at his first start by six lengths at Bendigo and said the team doesn’t let the pressure of training the high profile colt get to them.

“If you let that sort of pressure get to you, you don’t deserve to be training it,” Wayne said.

“He’s a lovely quiet horse with a great attitude. He does everything right, just what you need in a two-year-old.

“He’s a natural, an absolute natural. Vic Thompson, who pre-trained the horse in Sydney, said he did everything so easily.”

 

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.