![\"Trainer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/761070cff02172a55faa80b5a1d35e81.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nBritain\u2019s James Owen has accomplished a lot in his young training career, winning important races over jumps, on the flat and with Arabian horses. Now he\u2019s taking a huge step with his first American runner as Wimbledon Hawkeye (GB)competes in the $3.5-million DK Horse Nashville Derby Invitational on Saturday at Kentucky Downs.<\/p>\n
Owen, a former amateur rider, is in his third full season of training Thoroughbreds racing on the flat, along with jumpers and Arabians in a stable exceeding 100 horses.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe have a great team built up,\u201d he said recently from England via WhatsApp. \u201cIt\u2019s going great. I had a runner in the (Epsom) Derby (G1) this year. I had a runner in the Guineas. But to come over with a live chance in a foreign country in one of their best races is fantastic.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Wimbledon Hawkeye) backs up his runs. He\u2019s been very solid and consistent. He\u2019s a very sound athletic horse; he could be ridden in any kind of way. I think he ticks a lot of the boxes. I don\u2019t know what boxes you\u2019ve got to tick, but I have no worries about him traveling. He eats every night. He trains every day. He\u2019s not flashy. He just does his job. If I told him he was coming, he\u2019d be looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Trainer James Owen’s team after Wimbledon Hawkeye gave the stable its first group win in last year’s Juddmonte Royal Lodge (G2) at Newmarket. From left: Ryan King, Owen, Ciaran O’Shea, James DoylePhoto Courtesy of James Owen<\/p>\n
The Grade 3 Nashville Derby, even without the $1.5-million purse enhancement reserved for Kentucky-breds, is America\u2019s richest turf race outside the Breeders\u2019 Cup. The full $3.5 million provides the opportunity for the stakes to pay off as the second-richest race held at one track in America behind only the $5-million Kentucky Derby. Just its $2-million base purse matches that of the Preakness (g1) and Belmont Stakes (G1).<\/p>\n
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Entries will be taken Monday for the 1 5\/16-mile Nashville Derby, one of five stakes on Saturday\u2019s card. NBC will broadcast live the Nashville Derby, along with the $2-million Never Say Die Ladies Turf Sprint (G2) and the $2.5-million The Mint Kentucky Turf Sprint (G2), in a 3-5 p.m. (CT) show originating at the track.<\/p>\n
Kentucky Downs\u2019 all-turf meet runs Thursday, Saturday, Sunday as well as Sept. 4, 6, 7 and 10.<\/p>\n
Wimbledon Hawkeye — who races in the name of The Gredley Family, headed by the father-son duo of Bill and Tim Gredley — won Newmarket’s Group 2 Juddmonte Royal Lodge last fall, followed by a third in the Group 1 William Hill Futurity Trophy Stakes at Doncaster. The colt dropped a nose decision in his most recent start, a Group 2 race at Goodwood, where the up-and-down configuration should make Wimbledon Hawkeye feel right at home at Kentucky Downs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe coped with Goodwood very well last time out, when he just got beat in the Gordon Stakes,\u201d said Owen. \u201cSo it\u2019s hugely exciting for me and my team. We haven\u2019t been training long. We\u2019ve had a couple of Arabians run in Europe, but this will be our first international runner. The horse is going to come over with a massive chance. He was a very good 2-year-old, winning the Royal Lodge, my first group winner on the flat. He\u2019s unfortunate not to have that win on board (this year), but he\u2019s been very solid and run very well, picked up prize money everywhere he\u2019s run.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Owen noted that last year\u2019s British-based Nashville Derby winner Bellum Justum also was runner-up in the Gordon Stakes. International star Frankie Dettori \u2014 whose eight wins during his first Kentucky Downs meet last year included the Nashville Derby on Bellum Justum \u2014 will ride Wimbledon Hawkeye Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s why we\u2019re quite keen for Wimbledon to do it,\u201d Owen said. \u201cWe\u2019ve always been looking to travel with Wimbledon Hawkeye. When we got invited, we were like, \u2018Oh yeah. This is ideal.\u2019 It\u2019s a fantastic purse. His owner is looking forward to going over there. They have a long association with Frankie Dettori, Tim\u2019s good friend, and Frankie has ridden a lot of winners for the family. So it\u2019s lovely to get Frankie on board. He\u2019s going to know a lot more than we are, so I\u2019m sure he can point us in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
In five starts this year, Wimbledon Hawkey has three seconds and a third. He also was a close fifth in the 2000 Guineas (G1) at Newmarket. Distance will not be a problem; the colt\u2019s last three races have all been at 1 1\/2 miles.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not ground-dependent as well,\u201d Owen said of the firmness or softness of a course. \u201cFingers crossed, he\u2019s got a good profile for the race. He\u2019s got a very good mind, too. It\u2019s going to be great.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Wimbledon Hawkeye is from the first crop of the Kitten\u2019s Joy stallion and $530,828-earner Kameko, who was bred by Calumet Farm. Kameko was the beaten favorite in the 2020 Breeders\u2019 Cup Mile (G1) at Keeneland before retiring to stud in England. As a British-bred, Wimbledon Hawkeye is not eligible for the Kentucky-bred purse supplements in the Nashville Derby\u2019s $3.5 million purse. He still, however, will compete for $2 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is definitely the biggest purse he\u2019ll run for,\u201d Owen said. \u201cIt\u2019s still a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
The European horses are clearing quarantine at Churchill Downs\u2019 Kentucky Import Center in Louisville. Wimbledon Hawkeye was among five European-based horses going out for light training Sunday morning underneath the Twin Spires. The others: Khaadem (back in the Turf Sprint after finishing second last year), Cheshire Dancer (Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf), Lady Ilze (Ladies Turf) and Flatten the Curve (Bowling Green Gold Cup).<\/p>\n
Wimbledon Hawkeye was accompanied on the trip by Owen assistant trainer Ryan King, with Laura Pearson, a jockey in the United Kingdom, riding the colt in training.<\/p>\n
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King said Wimbledon Hawkeye is an unassuming horse in the stall but seems to grow after he\u2019s tacked up. \u201cWhen he goes to the races, boy, does he come alive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
King said the stable had 60 horses when he started with Owen.<\/p>\n
“We just acquired a new yard in Newmarket now and we\u2019re up to about 150 horses,\u201d he said. \u201cVery exciting. Hopefully we\u2019re on to bigger and better horses now, so we\u2019ll start climbing up the ladder. Stuff like this is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tennis enthusiasts will understand the colt’s name, with the Hawk-Eye technology system used at Wimbledon to enhance officiating and for ball tracking.<\/p>\n
This story was originally reported by Paulick Report<\/a> on Aug 24, 2025, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s James Owen has accomplished a lot in his young training career, winning important races over jumps, on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[45392,45391,16199,7566,20032,3004,101,56,54,55,116],"class_list":["post-91016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-arabian-horses","tag-james-owen","tag-kentucky-derby","tag-kentucky-downs","tag-nashville","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wimbledon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}