Hawk Mountain (18/5) provided Aidan O’Brien with a 12th success in the William Hill Futurity Trophy Stakes at Doncaster and a 23rd Group 1 of the year.
The Ballydoyle handler dominated the entries for the mile contest with nine of 13 possibles before declaration stage. That number was whittled down to three and the trio dominated the five-runner contest, filling the first three places, as Oxagon disappointed.
Hawk Mountain, and Ronan Whelan, and Action, under Wayne Lordan, shared the early running with Benvenuto Cellini and Oxagon racing together in a share of third while rank outsider Rochfortbridge completed the field.
Christophe Soumillon edged 7/4 favourite Benvenuto Cellini out from behind his stablemates approaching the three furlong pole and took the fight to his stablemates but his mount was waving the white flag by the time the furlong pole came into view.
No quarter was given by either Hawk Mountain or Action as they traded blows but Hawk Mountain gradually gained the upper hand and maintained his advantage to the line, winning by half a length.
Sky Bet make Hawk Mountain their 10/1 joint-favourite for the Derby at Epsom alongside stablemate Pierre Bonnard who is due to be in action in France on Sunday.
“Three lovely horses I’d say,” O’Brien said.
“[A] Wootton Bassett, big powerful strong horse, very classy; we thought he was a Classic horse for next year and we thought he could be a Guineas horse as well as a Derby horse. Ronan gave him a lovely ride. Wayne did too and Christophe’s horse ran a stormer; very good mover Christophe’s horse and still ran very well.”
O’Brien felt Benvenuto Cellini would have been better suited by faster ground, saying: “I would say so, he’s a very good mover. You couldn’t say he didn’t handle it but he probably would handle fast ground better.
“Hawk Mountain is a classy horse. He gets a mile well, he’s tough, a big powerful strong horse there and an unbelievable mind. He’s very straightforward to do everything with and couldn’t be happier with him.”
‘He just took off with me’
Whelan believes there’s a lot more to come from Hawk Mountain who won the Beresford Stakes on his preceding start.
“He jumped, we knew he’d stay and we knew he’d handle the ground. He’s still very babyish and it felt like my biggest job the last furlong was trying to keep him straight and get him to go forward, he’s just quite idle and it felt like I had plenty more there.
“The whole way round in the Beresford he was ears pricked and I could feel the others starting to come to me running down to the two and he was dossing there and I gave him a smack and he just took off with me. It was a very hard decision for the guys [about who to ride], put it this way, I’m glad I didn’t have to make one and ended up with him. He doesn’t do much and it’s hard to tell where his ceiling is, it’s hard to place all these horses.
“It’s my second Group 1 for them [Ballydoyle and Coolmore] this year and my first year being down there and kind of associated with them; it’s nice to deliver and it settles myself into it and feel I belong.”
Representing the owners, Paul Smith added: “He’s just like his father, beautiful looking horse, he’s got a great attitude, Ronan gave him a great ride and he’s progressive; all three ran great.
“Maybe he could be the one for next year, we’re really looking forward to him.”
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