Hawaiian continued the good form of the Richard Hannon yard with an eye-catching victory in the Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup EBF Maiden Stakes at Newbury on Friday.
The Kodiac colt stumbled coming out of the stalls but was soon travelling strong under a confident ride from Sean Levey, hitting the front with a furlong to run. Although he hung right in the closing stages, Hawaiian always had plenty in hand and the neck winning margin over Star Anthem could have easily been more. Brian Meehan's Rashabar kept on well to finish third, despite struggling for room with two furlongs to run.
"He did a bit of work at Kempton and I thought it was a little bit too good to be true," said Richard Hannon Jr.
"He's done everything so easily at home he hasn't learned anything and he might have just learned something today.
"Sean said if he had made the running it might have made it easier, but we think a fair bit of him and he's a fast horse who we will stick to five furlongs with at the moment.
"It's a bit early doors to be talking about Royal Ascot, but we might look at a Lily Agnes or something on the way. He will need one more run before Ascot just to be sure.
"He's very fast, knows his job and that will do him good. I hope he is an Ascot horse and he travelled great. That experience under his belt will do him good and I think he will improve a lot from that, like all ours do."
Winner of the Craven Stakes with Haatem on Thursday, Richard Hannon has been unleashing some serious talent on the racetrack and completed a double on the Newbury card with Voyage.
A 28/1 shot for the Darley Novice Stakes, Voyage was cruising in the final stages of the ten furlong contest under Pat Dobbs and kept on well to the line, beating Vanish by one-and-a-quarter lengths with Brave Call back in third. The Golden Horn colt was immediately cut for the Epsom Derby – Paddy Power shortened the colt from 100/1 to 33/1 for the Epsom showpiece.
