YES YES YES! HAWKESBURY MARE OPENING PMC FINAL FAVORITE

SHE is regarded by her trainer as “pretty special”, and is the early favorite to win the $1m Provincial-Midway Championships Final.

Unbeaten in three starts this campaign and five wins from nine starts overall, Oui Oui Oui (pictured) heads betting at $6 in the first PMC market issued by TAB.com.au.

Only two horses are under double figures, with last year’s winner Matcha Latte next at $8.

Matcha Latte was an excellent first-up third in the Listed Carrington Stakes (1400m) at Randwick last Saturday, but the PMC series will come on to the radar only if he doesn’t proceed to the Group 1 Doncaster Mile there a week earlier than the Final (April 11) on the opening day of The Championships.

Hawkesbury trainer Jason Attard, who has done such a great job with the daughter of 2019 The Everest winner Yes Yes Yes, says Oui Oui Oui is progressing well as she heads towards the series.

“I’m hoping to trial her at Warwick Farm next Tuesday over 1200m,” Attard said today.

“Oui Oui Oui will have only the one trial prior to the opening heat of the series over 1400m at Hawkesbury on February 19.

“Oui Oui Oui (who won her last two starts at Royal Randwick on December 13 and 27) had a short break after her latest victory, and had a nice gallop on the B grass at Hawkesbury this morning.

“She isn’t a big gross mare, and retains her fitness pretty well.

“By going to the first heat at Hawkesbury, it gives us options later in the series should she not qualify the first time.”

Hawkesbury’s series opener is for both eligible provincial and Midway horses, and the first two placegetters automatically are guaranteed berths in the $1m Final (1400m) at Randwick.

Attard intends to start Cryptonic at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday in the Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1350m), and has booked Tommy Berry to ride him.

Cryptonic carried 60.5kg to a first-up victory in a Provincial Benchmark 68 Handicap (1200m) at Kembla Grange on January 3 before finishing sixth to Mother Goose in a 1200m Midway Benchmark 72 at Rosehill a fortnight later.

“I wasn’t disappointed with his run; he was beaten only three lengths,” Attard said.

With four wins to his credit, Cryptonic can post another success and still remain eligible for the PMC series, along with his stablemate.

Meanwhile, fellow Hawkesbury trainer Darryll Kell hopes to reward apprentice Emma Ly with a comeback winner at Kembla Grange’s midweek meeting tomorrow.

Ly unfortunately was injured just after scoring on her master Blake Ryan’s Heaven Bound at Hawkesbury’s final meeting of the calendar year on December 14.

She has just returned to riding, and Kell’s Belgrano (4YO & Up Maiden Plate, 1600m) is her only mount on the six-race program.

“Emma helped me out riding work when Chad Lever was sidelined with injury, and I owed her the opportunity to ride Belgrano,” Kell said.

“Her 3kg claim will be invaluable in the small field, reducing Belgrano’s weight to 56kg.”

Kell has recently taken over the gelding’s training from Hawkesbury-based Michael Vella, and says he has come through his first-up defeat at Queanbeyan (when a late finishing close second in a 1460m Maiden Plate on January 10) well.

“Belgrano is getting ready for longer distances, but he can still be competitive at 1600m tomorrow,” Kell said.

Belgrano has been placed at seven of his 16 starts to date.

The first PMC Final market is:

6 Oui Oui Oui (Jason Attard)

8 Matcha Latte (Nacim Dilmi)

11 Hyperbolic (Brad Widdup), Lord Of Biscay (Kris Lees). Meridiana (John Sargent)

15 Damien (Kris Lees), Just Party (Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou), Lady Extreme (Blake Ryan), Saxobushi (Kris Lees)

STORY JOHN CURTIS, JANUARY 27, 2026 - PICS BRADLEY PHOTOS