Wimbledon Hawkeye and James Doyle win the Royal Lodge

2000 Guineas bid still possible for Wimbledon Hawkeye

By Graham Clark

Horse Racing

Thu March 06, 2025 · 10M ago

James Owen is starting to lean towards returning stable star Wimbledon Hawkeye to action in the Betfred 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Following the release of the entries for this year’s Betfred Derby last week, it appeared that the son of Kameko was going to be trained to make his return in the Group Two Dante Stakes at York ahead of a Classic outing at Epsom Downs.

However, it now looks likely that Wimbledon Hawkeye, who signed off last season finishing third in the Futurity Stakes at Doncaster, will re-appear at the scene of his Group Two success in the Royal Lodge Stakes in the opening colts Classic.

Owen said: “Physically, he has improved over the winter and he looks a much stronger horse.

“He is training great, but he hasn’t done any real work yet, however he has been going twice up Warren Hill and he looks fantastic.

“To be fair we have always mentioned the Dante as his starting point, but we are probably starting to swerve towards the 2000 Guineas with the way he is going.

"He has got good course form at Newmarket, and with the Charlie Appleby horse (Ruling Court), who was third to us in the Acomb, running well in Dubai at the weekend, it has given that form a boost.

“He is just coming to hand and if he is training well, and is right, he would go to the 2000 Guineas and he would go straight there.”

The father-of-two could also be represented in this year’s Betfred 1000 Guineas by the once-raced Trad Jazz, who like Wimbledon Hawkeye is owned by The Gredley Family.

Having won her only start to date at Kempton Park a trip back to the Sunbury venue could be on the cards for the daughter Sea The Moon ahead of a Classic tilt.

Owen added: “We love Trad Jazz. Tim Gredley came and watched all the horses the other day and both he and my assistant Ryan (King) said she was going well.

“I’ve always thought of her as maybe an Oaks filly, but she is just showing a bit more zip and is just looking like a stronger filly so we thought why not give her the Guineas entry. She might well run at the end of March in a mile fillies’ conditions stakes at Kempton Park.

“We thought about that race first as we thought if she bolts up in that then we ought to think about the 1000 Guineas.”

And as for last year’s Derby runner-up, Ambiente Friendly, who has recently joined Owen from James Fanshawe, an outing in the Group Two Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot has been identified as his first major target of the year.

Owen said: “He is training great and looks a million dollars. Hopefully we will see him in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot with a prep run beforehand.

“Where that prep run will be I don’t know at the moment. There are four or five options, but I would say it would be a nice little Listed somewhere that we go."

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.

Like what you've read?