Ambitious plans for Hawkeye Pierce starting tonight 

Trainer Logan Hollis would love to see talented harness racing pacer Hawkeye Pierce (American Ideal) race for $900,000 in stakes in just six weeks this summer but he might need your help.

Your help meaning if you intend buying a slot in the new Three-Year-Old Pacing slot race to be held at Addington on Show Day (November 15), which is where Hollis would like to see Hawkeye Pierce end up.

The exciting pacer resumes in a talented-packed race at Alexandra Park tonight (8.16pm), the Purdon and Phelan Racing Metro Heat No.2, which was designed to bring the very best under R55 pacers in the north together.

It looks like it is working as tonight’s heat is a beauty with plenty of open class type ability in the field which gives these horses a chance to qualify for a $35,000 final on September 6, the first of the new finals as harness racing starts to flex the muscle of its new $10million stake increases.

Hollis says Hawkeye Pierce is ready to roll as he has been in work since winning here on June 27, beating subsequently impressive dual winner Always A Porsche.

“He went well at the workouts two weeks ago, they ran fast sectionals and he was hard held so he is ready to go,” says Hollis, who trains in partnership with Shane Robertson.

“He has a wide draw and it is a good field and I will probably drive him myself since Tony (Herlihy) is away but we think he can win.”

He does meet some classy pacers including Mako (2 from 3), last-start winner Invisible, Kings Watch (winner of his last two) and Jeremiah, who was just behind the absolute best three-year-olds in races like the Northern Derby.

Hollis says Hawkeye Pierce can mix it with that company and winning this heat and final would set him up nicely for a huge summer treble after the sale of his hotshot stablemate Christopher Dance, who has headed to West Australia after being runner-up in the Northern Derby.

“We’d love to get this guy a slot in the new $500,000 three-year-old race on Show Day,” says Hollis.

“And if he is going well enough to do that we would probably stay down there for the NZ Derby [boosted to $300,000].

“Then he could even come back here for the Golden Gait Finals night which is worth $100,000 so these good three-year-olds can race for big money.”

Whether he starts down that path by winning tonight may well depend on tempo and the early scramble as with plenty of fit horses in this field capable of a sub 2:40 for the 2200m mobile, being off the markers may not be a lot of fun.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Michael Guerin, for Harness Racing New Zealand