Darryl Hewitt tackles Lightning Stakes with determined winner Sir Now at Morphettville

Competitive beast Sir Now is one of the main chances in the Lightning Stakes at Morphettville as he chases five straight wins.

Sir Now savaged the line for a fourth straight win last start, and Darryl Hewitt’s tough sprinter doesn’t like settling for second place.

A determined will to win has him chasing a fifth consecutive win at Morphettville on Saturday, this time at Listed level in the Lightning Stakes (1050m).

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A deluge of rain across Adelaide has runners likely to encounter a heavy track for Saturday’s nine-race card, and rain, hail or shine, you can trust Sir Now will be hunting the line late.

“He’s hard work, that will to win is competitiveness,” Hewitt, a former SANFL footballer of over 200 games, said.

“On the footy field, you want to fight to get the ball, he’s much the same, he’s very competitive, he wants to get to the front.

“Maggie (Collett) said she got goosebumps the last 100m (last start) because he just flattened out and attacked the horse rather than the line.”

Julie Preston, Maggie Collett and Darryl Hewitt celebrate after Sir Now's win last start. Picture: Makoto Kaneko

Sir Now, a son of Sir Prancelot, flew home inside the final 100m to deny Lindsay Park galloper, Beast Mode, in a Benchmark 80 (1000m) on the Parks circuit on June 28.

“They put two or three lengths on the third horse, it wasn’t like Beast Mode was stopping greatly,” he said.

“(Beast Mode) ran well next start, finished fourth at Flemington last Saturday – so the form stacks up.”

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Freshened, four weeks between runs, Hewitt is pleased with his three-year-old ahead of a stakes tilt, but admits keeping the fiery customer ticking over has been a challenge.

“He came through it good, the only trouble is we’ve had four weeks off between runs – he’s a fairly active horse,” he said.

“It wasn’t much good putting him out for a week in the paddock because he’s that well he would probably hurt himself.

“I’ve had to monitor him in the box for the last four weeks and keep him ticking over, hopefully he’s still right enough to go tomorrow.

“I would have liked to have had a three-year-old lead-up race, but there was only a (Benchmark) 66 and he would’ve got 68kg or something.”

A heavy track won’t concern Hewitt, Sir Now has won five of seven career wins on rain-affected circuits, including a win on heavy ground.

Sir Now just keeps on winning! 🔥

Darryl Hewitt's 3YO gelding comes from a long way back & was four-wide at the turn to show an electric turn of foot late to salute for the fourth time in a row 😤 pic.twitter.com/WmPUpIotaK

— Racing.com (@Racing) June 28, 2025

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The gelding, who will be piloted again by Maggie Collett, has earnt his chance at stakes level, but it’s been no mean feat getting there.

“I’m sort of counting on the heavy, being a wide draw (11), it might even suit being wide,” Hewitt said.

“It (Lightning) was never really on the radar, with this horse, it’s one race at a time.

“He can be a handful, he can dump a rider here and there, you don’t know whether he’s going to do a lap or two with no rider.

“Maggie, she’s not scared of him, he can put the wind up jockeys.”

Hewitt also has stakes-winning gelding, Snoopy Now, ready to fire in a Benchmark 72 over a mile, with Connor Murtagh booked to ride.

“We’ve put the work into him again for the 1600m and he’s bouncing around,” he said.

“He ran second in the Sires’ Produce on a heavy last year to Colmar – he’ll handle it all right too.”

Originally published as Darryl Hewitt tackles Lightning Stakes with determined winner Sir Now at Morphettville