Cooks hope duo for Winx Stakes just the start of big spring
Like many owners, Frank and Christine Cook start the spring with high hopes about their chances, they might not be able to go to the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup this year but their horses probably will.
"It is a strange year," Frank said. "We aren’t going to get to watch those races that you dream of in person but the plans are we will have runners if things go right.
Master Of Wine is the favourite to win the WInx Stakes at Randwick on Saturday Credit:Getty Images
"Finche is heading to the Melbourne Cup, Fierce Impact has a preparation planned to end in the Cox Plate and Master Of Wine could run in both those races or the Caulfield Cup but we have to wait and see what he does.
"We are hoping the plans work out but it looks like being an exciting a couple of months."
The Cooks have had their share of group 1 winners and hope Master Of Wine and Fierce Impact start the 2020-21 season with another top-end victory in the Winx Stakes at Randwick on Saturday. As with most of their racehorses they share the ownership.
"It is not often you have two in a group 1 and both of them are real chances," Frank said. "We are going to get to the races and see them [on Saturday] and hopefully celebrate a win."
Both horses are imports but the real anticipation is with Master Of Wine. This could be the spring where the Team Hawkes-trained six-year-old, a winner of five of his 15 starts, will flourish.
"He is favourite for the Winx on potential really," Frank said. "He has been taken along slowly since he got here and I think this preparation is when we see how good he is.
"The potential is there and he is in the right stable for that to come out with the Hawkeses.
"They have managed him very well and it is exciting to be going into a group 1 campaign with him, which we don’t know where it could end.
"I think the race set up perfectly for him with all the speed and he is going to be the one that will be charging home. From I have seen I think he could win at 1400m first-up and be there in a Caulfield Cup or Cox Plate given his style and turn of foot.
"He could end in any of the big races but we leave that up to John Hawkes and the boys because they know what the right races are for him."
Fierce Impact, already a two-time group 1 winner over a mile, has his program set out after the Winx Stakes with a trip to Melbourne planned for the Makybe Diva Stakes, Turnbull Stakes and Cox Plate.
Cook admits his admiration for Japanese champion stallion Deep Impact led him to take a share in Fierce Impact when he bought in England. He wore the Cooks’ silks to victory in the Toorak Handicap and Cantala Stakes last spring.
"He has performed at this level before and he ran second in the Orr Stakes when resumed in the autumn," Cook said. "It is great to have a group 1 winning son of Deep Impact and he is still an entire.
"He probably needs the track to get to [being rated] slow for him to be a chance but his trials have been good and we think he will have another good preparation."