James McDonald and the Hawkes family continued their strong recent association with Mecir storming down the middle of the track to win the Group 3 Newcastle Newmarket (1400m).
The leading jockey and the training trio enjoy close to a 30 per cent strike rate with 32 wins from 115 rides, including 19 from 67 this season.
Mecir settled back in the field before unleashing a strong turn of foot late to down leader Strawberry Boy by a neck with Slow Pace a further neck away in third.
Mecir is still among the nominations for the Doncaster Mile and could possibly head towards the feature Group 1 but co-trainer Michael Hawkes isn’t setting any concrete plans.
“We just wanted to get through (Wednesday), he hates wet tracks, we have kept him fresh, he probably should nearly be unbeaten this time around, he is just a really really good horse and keeps getting better,” he said.
“He has had his issues, if he was dead set sound he would be a superstar.
“At the end of the day we will just keep ticking him over and when the tracks are dry we will keep running him.
“He could sneak in to a decent race but at this stage we will poke along, he is doing his job and paying his way and everyone is happy.”
McDonald was taken off Mecir last start when he finished a close fourth behind Red Excitement for what the stable thought was a poor ride prior.
“He slaughtered it, he rode it pretty ordinary, should have come to the outside, he was a good thing beaten but he has made up for it, unfortunately the one you miss out on is the one your never catch up on,” he said.
“We work as a team, we move on and forget about them.”
McDonald said Mecir relished the conditions and was afforded a lovely run.
“We found all the right backs at the right time and it panned out perfect for him,” he said.
– Racing Network
