Hawaii Five Oh ($4.20) has produced his scintillating best to career away with the Group 3 Hawkesbury Guineas on Saturday afternoon.
It was an award for consistency with this three-year-old colt out of I Am Invincible finally putting it all together and has given his rivals a galloping lesson in the process.
This Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott-trained galloper was simply too good for his opposition due to a sensational steer from jockey Nash Rawiller. Seemingly finding the perfect two-back position throughout the 1400m journey before letting this full brother of Libertini produce his best peak performance to date.
Atmosphere ($10) was honest for Godolphin to find second position, while Razeta ($4.40) and Sizzle Minizzle ($21) fought out the photo finish for third and fourth respectively.
It was all honours the winner however, as Hawaii Five Oh is likely to make his way to Queensland for the Winter Carnival next month.
2023 Group 3 Hawkesbury Guineas – Hawaii Five Oh
Which race remains to be seen but speaking post-race co-trainer Adrian Bott spoke about that prospect, while discussing the impress performance of Hawaii Five Oh.
“Fantastic to see,” said Bott.
“Nash (Rawiller) gave him a lovely ride today, got him switched off and into a beautiful position.
“He worked into it at the right time and I was really impressed in the manner of which he put them away and the acceleration he showed.
“That was sort of really impressive, very proud of him today so we’ll aim up what we look through Queensland, I think the tracks up there will suit him. The tempo of the races up there will suit him also, a couple nice races.
“We wanted to get today over with, see how he stacks up against this grade, take one step at a time but I think he’ll take a lot of confidence on the back of that.”
Nash Rawiller spoke after steering home Hawaii Five Oh and had plenty of praise for Gai Waterhouse in particular unlocking the potential in this progressive type.
“He’s been promising to do that for quite some time,” said Rawiller.
“Full credit to Gai (Waterhouse), as much as Adrian’s (Bott) running the show today, she’s sort of taken this horse under her wing and in six-weeks she’s turned him into the horse we know that he was.
“That was pretty awesome today.”
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