Wimbledon Hawkeye and James Doyle win the Royal Lodge

James Owen has eye on Nashville Derby with Wimbledon Hawkeye

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Thu August 28, 2025 · 4M ago

Trainer James Owen is looking forward to having his first runner in America when star three-year-old Wimbledon Hawkeye teams up with Frankie Dettori in the Nashville Derby Invitational Stakes this weekend.

The son of Kameko won last year's Group 2 Royal Lodge at Newmarket and while unable to add to his tally in half a dozen starts so far in 2025, he has run several excellent races in defeat including when fifth behind Ruling Court in the 2000 Guineas, third to Pride Of Arras in the Dante and runner-up in the Group 2 Princess Of Wales's Stakes at Newmarket's July Festival.

On his most recent outing, Wimbledon Hawkeye pushed the highly-regarded Merchant all the way to the line in the Group 3 Gordon Stakes at the Qatar Goodwood Festival, ultimately missing out by a nose in the mile and a half contest.

This weekend's Kentucky Downs assignment, the third most valuable turf race in the United States, represents a drop back to an extended 10 furlongs, but Owen doesn't feel that will hold his horse back in any way as the Newmarket man seeks a first career win across the Atlantic.

Owen told the Nick Lucky Daily Podcast: "He's trained great. I know he's been busy but he's almost improved with each run and become more solid. The Goodwood run, we got beaten by a good horse and we went very close. He's been very solid and has travelled over there very well. We're thoroughly looking forward to it."

In terms of shipping to the US and the inspiration behind the venture, Owen said: "We thought about it earlier in the season and we got an invite straight away after his good run at Goodwood in the Gordon Stakes so that was put to Tim (Gredley, owner) and he soon came back and said 'it's a go'.

"It's great we can get Frankie (Dettori) as well. It just made sense. He handled Goodwood very well, he's not the biggest of horses so he can whizz around corners and things. The long run-in will suit him too. The ground's obviously going to be quite quick but he can handle all types of ground so he's got a lot of pluses in his form which I think will suit the race.

"This is massive for me and my team, I've never been to America let alone have a runner so for this prize money we really want to compete on the international scene. Hopefully this is a great starting point."

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