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The 10 horses to follow this spring and their key race targets
SEN • August 28th, 2025 3:16 pm
Spring racing is on our doorstep and with that comes a look to the big races coming up.
SEN is lucky enough to have veteran trainer Wayne Hawkes and prominent owner John O'Neill as regulars to impart their wisdom and knowledge while providing some proper racing intel.
Have a look at the 10 horses to follow and their key race targets - five from Hawkes, five from O'Neill - including both of their stable stars.
Hawkes’ five
1 - Devil Night
Targets: Manikato Stakes, Coolmore Stud Stakes
Hawkes says: “Blue Diamond winner who is potentially going to end up in the Manikato Stakes.
“Could end up in a Coolmore which is the best three-year-old sprint race in the country.
“I reckon the bunch of two-year olds (going into their three-year-old season) are pretty good.”
2 - Nepotism
Targets: Golden Rose, Caulfield Guineas, Cox Plate (possibly)
Hawkes says: “He’ll come back and follow one of our old horses in Ole Kirk’s form.
“We’re trying to win a Golden Rose and a Caulfield Guineas.
“That’s pretty hard and rare earth but we can do it. You need to be a little bit special.
“You’d like to be thinking you’re a Golden Rose winner and a Caulfield Guineas winner before you look at the horse and go he pulled up enormous - do we run the gauntlet with another three year-old in the Cox Plate?”
3 - Federalist
Targets: Spring Champion Stakes, VRC Derby
Hawkes says: “He’s not running until September 13th in a 1400m Ming Dynasty.
“He’s going to head towards the Spring Champion, a Group 1 race, and then potentially come to Melbourne for the VRC Derby.
“He is the Brad Pitt of horse racing. He would be the best looking horse that I’ve got.”
4 - Swiftfalcon
Targets: Epsom Handicap, Golden Eagle
Hawkes says: “I tossed between Airman and Swiftfalcon, and to be fair, no disrespect, they were both a bit of non-winners, these two.
“But I'm gonna go with Swiftfalcon. Bigger, better, stronger. Put on 40kg in the off-season.
“So, I'm looking at him going maybe he wasn't mature enough last preparation, running second to Broadsiding in the Group 1, and getting so close, so near, but so far.
“We could go towards an Epsom Handicap, because an Epsom - I’m not going to say a weak Group 1, but it's one of those Group 1s that has suffered a bit from all these other pop-up races, and it isn't the race that it was 20 years ago.
“Then he goes on to another race called the Golden Eagle, which is a $10 million race for four-year-olds.
“He’s going to run Saturday week in the Tramway.”
5 - Briasa (stable star)
Targets: The Shorts, Premiere Stakes, The Everest
Hawkes says: “This time last year he was running unrestricted races then came back in the autumn and was a good thing beaten in the first Group 1 he ran in.
“He came out and won the TJ Smith which is the best sprint race of the autumn. He beat a bunch of good horses in that.
“He’s not running for a couple weeks, there’s no rush for him. Unfortunately we won’t get to see him in Melbourne.
“He’ll probably run in The Shorts and then the Premiere and then we’d probably run in The Everest. We don’t have to over-race him. We’ve got plenty of time.
“He’ll be forward and fit. I’m hoping the form stands up in The Everest and they all turn up in their best form, because this will be one of the greatest races we’ve seen in Sydney for a long time.”
O’Neill’s five
1 - Gringotts
Trainer: Ciaron Maher
Targets: 7 Stakes, King Charles, Big Dance, Champions Mile
O’Neill says: “He’s come back a hell of a lot bigger and stronger than what he was.
“We’re really looking for him to step up. He’ll probably go to the 7 Stakes in Sydney in a couple of weeks.
“Then on to the King Charles. At that stage we’ll have a really good understanding of the competitive analysis of the other horses in the markets.
“We’ve got the Big Dance with big money we can fall back on to after winning it last year.
“If he was to run as we hope in the 7 Stakes and the King Charles then he’d probably go to the Champions Mile on the last Saturday (of Flemington carnival).”
2 - Birdman
Trainer: Chris Waller
Targets: The Metropolitan, Caulfield Cup, Melbourne Cup
O’Neill says: “We’ll try to find a mile race for him in two or three weeks. I think he’ll probably head towards The Metropolitan.
“That’s the way we’ll go and then send him down here and have a crack at the Cups.
“He’s a really progressive horse that’s matured significantly over the last 12 months. He’s in all the markets, but he’s reasonable prices in them so we can certainly put him in our multiples.”
3 - Middle Earth
Trainer: Ciaron Maher
Targets: Naturalism Stakes, Turnbull Stakes, Caulfield Cup, Melbourne Cup
O’Neill says: “He’ll run this Saturday over 2000m at Caulfield.
“I don’t think we’re going to see the best of him until he gets to 2400m and he’s just going to eat the Melbourne Cup distance (3200m) for sure.
“He’ll go to the 2000m on Saturday and all things being well on to the Naturalism which is a good lead-up to the Caulfield Cup.
“He’ll then probably run the in the Turnbull then to the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup.
“He’s a horse that is really good value in both Cups markets, and as long as he gets through the next couple of runs you’ll see significant improvement.
“Definitely a top four chance in both races.”
4 - Buckaroo
Trainer: Chris Waller
Targets: Underwood Stakes, Caulfield Cup
O’Neill says: “One of the favourite horses that we have in our group - Buckaroo.
“Had a wonderful spring carnival last year, obviously second in a Caulfield Cup, a great run in the Melbourne Cup as well.
“These international horses tend to really acclimatise. We found this at certain times throughout their career, and he seems to be a Melbourne way of going horse, and certainly a spring horse.
“He will run in the 1400m (Memsie Stakes at Caulfield) on Saturday, a really good starting point for him. Then the Underwood, the race he won last year.
“I would say Chris (Waller) will push on to the Caulfield Cup again. I think Buckaroo could beat Vauban and Arapaho in a Caulfield Cup.
“He’s a live chance in that race.”
5 - Jimmysstar (stable star)
Trainer: Ciaron Maher
Targets: Concorde Stakes, Premiere Stakes, The Everest
O’Neill says: “Clearly Jimmysstar is our stable star.
“We will go to the Concorde in a couple of weeks, we’ll then go on to the Premiere and then to The Everest.
“‘Jimmy’ has grown up, he’s grown into his body, he’s a little bull. His two trials have been quite incredible.
“He will be there on Everest day, as Briasa will, and we’ll be doing our best to chase down Ka Ying Rising.”
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