BERNIE Hewitt is no stranger when it comes to contesting finals at the Gold Crown Carnival, but this year his contingent of qualifiers is his biggest yet.
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The Georges Plains trainer-driver will have seven shots at Group glory at the Bathurst Paceway on Saturday night.
Four of them come in the Group 2 Gold Bracelet Final for three-year-old fillies with Ima Black Beauty, Royal Story, Im With Lexy and Taylors Reason representing his stable.
In the Gold Chalice Final for three-year-old colts and geldings, Hewitt’s chances rest with Pretty Hot, while the two-year-old equivalent, the Group 1 Gold Crown Final, will see Brads Luck and Mackeral in action.
“I’ve had a few doubles in finals, the fillies final, the tiara, but I wouldn’t have had doubles in the others, so it’s going to be a busy night,” Hewitt said.
“They were a good bunch of two-year-olds last year and a lot of them have come back in similar vein and have been working well and working up to this.”
In the Gold Bracelet, a $50,000 final run over 2,260 metres, Hewitt’s quartet will face some stiff opposition from Dont Think Twice. She won last year’s Gold Tiara.
“She’s probably the yardstick Dont Think Twice. She hasn’t been getting the best of draws throughout her career, but she’s going to be hard to beat in that final,” Hewitt said.
After his four Gold Bracelet hopefuls did their last fast work session on Thursday, Hewitt made the decision to steer Royal Story (barrier eight).
John O’Shea has been given the job with Ima Black Beauty (barrier three), Robbie Morris will steer Im With Lexy (seven) and Doug Hewitt is set to drive Taylors Reason (13).
In the Group 1 Gold Crown Final (1,730m), Hewitt has opted to steer Brads Luck while Mat Rue drives Mackeral.
Both will be underdogs given the presence of Australasian record holder Divine State, but Hewitt is hopeful of snaring a placing.
“It [Divine State] does look head and shoulders above everyone, but racing’s different when you get to finals. The pressure in finals can lead to something you don’t expect,” Hewitt said.
“You’ve just got to go out there and make sure your horse does everything right and you give it the best possible chance.
“I think the rest are fairly even. I’m real happy with where my two are. They are really on the improve, they hadn’t had a lot of racing before it, so their runs have been quite good.”
