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Hawkes Racing pays record amount for son of Coolmore stallion.
"If he can't run, I'll give up." That was Wayne Hawkes' pledge after paying a record amount for a son or daughter of Justify on Day 2 of the Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.
Hawkes and his training partners, father John and brother Michael, paid $1 million for the colt out of Maastricht, which makes him a half-brother to Group 1 winner Loving Gaby.
The Hawkes family trained Maastricht, a daughter of Mastercraftsman whose only wins came in an Echuca maiden and Bendigo BM64 at her first two starts but was placed in an Edward Manifold Stakes (1600m) and Alister Clark Stakes (2040m) at Group 2 level.
"We trained mum and mum was petty good," Hawkes said. "Mum ran second in so many races for Alan Bell and we knew she had the quality.
"Her first foal was Loving Gaby, we all looked at her here in the first year of the sale grounds at the Warwick Farm complex and thought she was a staying filly, we go that wrong, but this colt is her best since Loving Gaby.
"I don't get excited very often but I was a little bit with that horse."
The price of the Kia Ora Stud-prepared colt was $100,000 more than the previous best for a Justify yearling, the filly out of Global Glamour who was sold at Magic Millions in January.
After having Loving Gaby, who is by I Am Invincible, Maastricht produced a filly by Sebring who raced as Gstaad and was retired after one start and another filly, by I Am Invincible, known as Greece.
Hawkes said her first colt was the best son or daughter of Justify that he has seen and he strikes him as a horse who could be a contender for some of next year's major two-year-old races.
"He's no doubt the best Justify of the year," Hawkes said. "I don't care what anyone says, he's 100 percent the best Justify that we've seen all year.
"My father said I reckon we'd be some chance of getting him here as a two-year-old this time next year, I don't know how many people would have thought (about Justify progeny), but John Hawkes did."