Blue blood colt Federalist primed for 2025 Sires’ Produce Stakes upset at Royal Randwick

Federalist may lack experience but co-trainer Michael Hawkes is adamant the lightly-raced prospect is still a worthy contender for Saturday’s Group 1 Sires’ Produce Stakes.

Blue-blood colt Federalist may lack experience but co-trainer Michael Hawkes is adamant the lightly-raced prospect is still a worthy contender for Saturday’s Group 1 $1m Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) at Royal Randwick.

The promising son of I Am Invincible will have just his second start in the second leg of Sydney’s juvenile Triple Crown.

Team Hawkes has already had a two-year-old stakes winner with Nepotism in the Group 3 Baillieu Handicap on Tuesday at Rosehill Gardens and is hoping Federalist can match his smart stablemate’s effort.

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“We were lucky enough to do it on Tuesday with Nepotism, who had only had one start and came out and won a Group race,” Hawkes, who trains alongside John and Wayne Hawkes, said.

“This bloke has to take on the lines of Wodeton and Rivellino but we feel he is right there and has the ability to be there.

“He is a blueblood and it’s only his second run over 1400m.”

Federalist races in the well-known cerise and white silks of leviathan owner Bob Peters and is a son of one of his former stars Arcadia Queen – a three-time Group 1 winner of the Kingston Town Classic (now Northerly Stakes), Caulfield Stakes and Mackinnon Stakes. She also ran in the 2019 The Everest, finishing a 4.6-length 11th behind Yes Yes Yes.

Can you believe it?

Arcadia Queen beats Russian Camelot in the Caulfield Stakes. She does it easily too! 😮 pic.twitter.com/TQs1qprUa6

— Racing.com (@Racing) October 10, 2020

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Federalist ($34) would undoubtedly cement himself as a stallion prospect of the future with victory in the Sires’.

He was a luckless fifth in his only start over 1200m at Newcastle.

“If he had won there, he would still be going to the race,” Hawkes said.

“He is a nice horse and is going to be a cracking three-year-old but has really did it on ability alone.”

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The Hawkes camp made the decision not to back-up Nepotism in the Sires but still have a Group 1 assignment in mind for the emerging talent.

“He will head towards the Champagne, has pulled up good and it looks a nice race for him,” Hawkes said.

Originally published as Blue blood colt Federalist primed for 2025 Sires’ Produce Stakes upset at Royal Randwick