Captains Knock and Brad Hewitt
IT is a case of the new and the old as Brad Hewitt unleashes his stable stars and chases a record payday over the next four days.
It starts tonight when long-time stable star Captains Knock is trying to become the first pacer to snag a $1 million bonus for taking a clean sweep of the five legs of the NSW Carnival of Cups series.
Throw in the first prize money for winning tonight’s $60,000 Group 3 Renshaw Cup and Captains Knock will pocket a total of $1,032,700 for his connections, including Canberra Raiders legend Jarrod Croker.
That payday will exceed the record $1 million first prize Encipher (2023), Don Hugo (2024) and Bay Of Biscay (2025) banked for winning the world’s richest harness race, the $2.1mil TAB Eureka.
Hewitt revealed he and Captains Knock’s passionate group of owners were looking at Penrith as “an added bonus” rather going there expecting to pocket the record payout.
“It’s been a long road to get here and not without its challenges,” he said. “We have a few (injury) niggles to deal with, which is why we were all so excited when he won that fourth leg at Albury, which guaranteed him a $500,000 bonus.
“That was a big moment for us given the challenges we’d had getting ready for it, so we all sort of feel like adding Penrith and getting the $1 million will be an added bonus.”
Captains Knock will have to overcome a back row draw (gate nine) and some quality opposition, headed by millionaire warhorse Max Delight, to win again.
“He’s the best horse in it, but it’s never easy from the back row around that little (Penrith) track,” Hewitt said.
Captains Knock has raced at Penrith twice for a win and a second, but that was a two-year-old back in 2022.
It will be the end of a long day for Hewitt when he hopes aboard Captains Knock at 8.55pm tonight.
“Yes, the heats of the Bathurst (Gold Crown) are on during the day. It’s hard to understand why the meetings would clash.” he said.
“I’ll do both, but it’ll be a juggle and a lot of travel. It’s about two-and-half hours from Bathurst to Penrith and then at least two hours from Penrith back to Goulburn after the races.”
Hewitt will return to Bathurst on Monday with his young stars Hollywood Strip and Sparkling Sea (trained by his father, David) for heats of the three-year-old series’.
Hollywood Strip stamped himself as Australia’s best three-year-old when he stretched his unbeaten record to eight races with a powerhouse Group 1 NSW Derby win at Menangle last Saturday night.
Sparkling Sea is one of Australia’s most exciting three-year-old fillies with five wins from seven starts, including last Saturday’s Raith Memorial at Menangle.
PHOTOS: HRNSW/Brett Atkins
