PEPPER’S DOUBLE CHANCE TO GRAB HAWKESBURY HEADLINES
LUKE Pepper has had minimal runners at Hawkesbury, but hopes to be a headline grabber there tomorrow.
The Canberra trainer takes two horses to the provincial meeting, and is relying on jockey partners Brodie Loy and apprentice Claire Ramsbotham to provide him with a double in the last two races to edge him closer to a career 400 winners.
“I wasn’t aware until someone pointed out yesterday that I have trained 395 winners,” Pepper said this morning.
“I’m more focused on getting my next winner, and certainly Bengal and Brave Xena look to have strong chances at Hawkesbury.
“They are both going well, and come back from good last start performances at Randwick to what appear to be very suitable races.”
Loy rides Bengal in the Blakes Marine CG&E Benchmark 64 Handicap (1100m), and Ramsbotham partners Brave Xena in the St Johns Park Bowling Club Benchmark 64 Handicap over the same distance against her own sex.
Zoustar five-year-old Bengal was a $250,000 yearling purchase in 2023, but was sold online for $42,500 the following year after one Warwick Farm placing from a handful of starts.
Pepper has won three races with him – including a Randwick Highway Handicap (when ridden by Loy) in June last year –but says he has been a very unlucky horse.
“Bengal has been a great buy for his owners, but his record should be even better,” Pepper said.
“We had a crack at the Country Championships earlier in the year by running him in the Qualifier at the Sapphire Coast and Wild Card at Goulburn.
“Though he was placed in the Sapphire Coast race, the 1400m proved a bit too far.
“He is a good short course sprinter, and tomorrow’s distance is ideal after his latest close fourth in a Randwick Highway (1000m) on September 19.
“I didn’t consider claiming because of his 61kg as he is a bit of a tricky horse, and Brodie knows him inside out.”
It’s a different story with stablemate Brave Xena (by Newcastle Gold Cup winner Aethelwulf’s sire Saxon Warrior).
“Brave Xena is very tiny; she is a pony,” Pepper said.
“With a 63kg handicap, I had to claim on her, hence taking advantage of Claire’s 3kg allowance.
“As Claire is Brodie’s partner, she comes and rides work for me and knows this mare.
“Braze Xena got further back than we had anticipated when third first-up at Randwick in the same race as Bengal.
“From a good barrier tomorrow, we will look to ride her closer and she should be hard to beat.
“Brave Xena is putting together a nice record, having won three of her six starts to date.
“She won those three in a row earlier in the year, culminating with a 1000m Randwick Highway victory in February.”
Bengal was a $6 second favorite with TAB.com.au this morning behind Bjorn Baker’s Youre Not The King ($2.25), and Brave Xena was a dominant $2 favorite.
Pepper may be a stranger to Hawkesbury in terms of runners, but not so with local veteran Lady Shenanigans, who lines up in Bengal’s race for his 99th start.
Mitch and Desiree Kearney’s stable favorite is now nine years of age, and has raced 30 times at his home track for three wins and eight placings.
His career record stands at 10 wins and 22 placings for earnings of just over $400,000.
How good considering Team Kearney bought him for only $1750 online in 2021 after he had been a $300,000 yearling purchase in 2019 before being onsold without racing after finishing last in a Rosehill Gardens trial.
. The seven-race program begins at 1.50pm. The rail is 2m out from the 1100m to 450m, and in the TRUE position for the remainder of the circuit. A ‘Soft 5’ rating was posted at 8am today following 26.5mm of rain in the last seven days, but nil in the previous 24 hours.
Only 3mm of irrigation has been put on the track, but none of that in the previous 24 hours.
STORY JOHN CURTIS, OCTOBER 7, 2026 - PICS BRADLEY PHOTOS
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