WYNEN SETS SIGHTS TO “GROOVE” AT HAWKESBURY

DENIM Wynen is back in winning groove, and hopes to “double up” at Hawkesbury on March 7.

It’s the club’s increasingly popular annual Groove On The Grass raceday, though the Wyong trainer’s focus will be on the racing front more so than the music.

Wynen plans to run both yesterday’s Newcastle winner Alabama Blitz and her Provincial-Midway Championships contender Monkhana at the Saturday meeting.

She has already booked talented Wyong apprentice Anna Roper for Monkhana, who begins a new campaign in the third Qualifier (1400m) for eligible provincial-trained horses only.

Roper has ridden the former New Zealand mare in all three wins – the latest a Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens on August 16 – under Wynen’s banner.

She also was aboard Monkhana when she contested a 1000m trial, won by last year’s PMC Final runner-up Lord Of Biscay, on Newcastle’s Beaumont track last Thursday.

“Monkhana is coming up nicely this preparation, and I’m looking forward to taking her to Hawkesbury,” Wynen said this morning.

The first two placegetters in the March 7 Qualifier automatically are included in the field for the $1m Final (1400m) at Royal Randwick on April 11 on Day 2 of The Championships.

Wynen, who keeps a team of eight horses in work, completed a successful week for her small stable when Alabama Blitz returned to the winning list at Newcastle yesterday.

She had also scored with Kahraba (apprentice Mollie Fitzgerald) at Port Macquarie last Sunday.

Wynen put blinkers on Alabama Blitz and, with apprentice Zac Wadick aboard, bounced back in the Provincial Benchmark 64 Handicap (1890m).

Starting at $15, she gamely defeated the Paul Perry stablemates General Soho ($11) and Rothrock ($14).

“Alabama Blitz did well during her spell, and has needed her first two runs back,” Wynen said.

“She got to a more suitable distance yesterday, and the blinkers obviously helped.

“Alabama Blitz has pulled up well, and will run in another Midway Benchmark 64 Handicap (1800m) at Hawkesbury the same day as Monkhana.”

A $70,000 Inglis online purchase last May after racing in Victoria, Alabama Blitz has now won twice at Newcastle since joining Wynen’s barn.

The four-year-old mare won a Class 1 Handicap (1600m) on a heavy track last August.

While Perry had to play second and third fiddle to Wynen’s mare, he was successful with well-backed The Magic Man earlier in the Newcastle program.

The Showtime three-year-old, hence his name, was ridden by Lee Magorrian in breaking through at his 12^th start, in the Midway Maiden Handicap (1200m).

He had been runner-up to both Rivellino and Wodeton as a two-year-old at Randwick and Rosehill respectively in January last year.

The Magic Man resumed when last of six starters in a 1200m Maiden Plate at Wyong on January 26 when he was trapped wide in the early and middle stages.

Perry removed a tongue tie from the gelding yesterday and, when again wide and racing keenly, Magorrian wisely let him slide – and it proved a winning move.

“Now that he has broken through at last, hopefully we can find another suitable race for The Magic Man in the coming weeks,” Perry said.

STORY JOHN CURTIS, FEBRUARY 15, 2026 - PICS BRADLEY PHOTOS