The Locomotive Photo by Courtesy HRNSW
FORMER Inter Dominion winner The Locomotive is back on target for another tilt at the great race.
After a trip to Sweden and some niggling issues, trainer-driver Brad Hewitt is finally happy with the six-year-old again.
“Nathan (Jack) has been jogging him up and said he seems good and ready to come back to me, which he’ll do next week,” he said.
“He’s done a fair bit of foundation work, so he should be ready to trial early to mid-June and then have a race before the Inter Dominion starts.”
The Locomotive boasts 25 wins from 44 starts, including the 2024 Inter Dominion crown at Menangle.
He hasn’t raced since winning at Menangle on November 29, last year.
Hewitt also revealed a change of plans with his pacing star Captains Knock.
“We’ve nominated him for the Inter Dominion and will take him as well, if he’s racing well at the time,” he said.
“We thought about a long spell after the big campaign he had, but you worry about getting them back if you give them too long out.
“He’ll have three or four weeks off now and then get back into it.
“We’ve had our battles with him and that was a long, long campaign, but he finished it off well with that run at Cambridge.”
Those two starts could be part of a huge Queensland winter for Hewitt.
His star three-year-old Hollywood Strip is also Brisbane-bound.
The son of Sweet Lou boasts 10 wins and a third from 11 starts, including last month’s NSW Derby.
“He’s having a freshen-up and then we’ve got the Nutrien series in late May,” Hewitt said.
“We’ll have a go at the Rising Sun where the preferential draw is a plus and then the Queensland Derby.
“Beyond that we’ve got the NSW Breeders Challenge and the TAB Eureka.”
PHOTO: HRNSW/Brett Atkins
