KEY POINTS:
Every successful racehorse trainer has learned aspects of their trade from a mentor.
Keith Hawtin said that if he learned something from 11 years with Australian trainer Angus Armanasco, it was about the best way to prepare 2-year-olds.
Hawtin had reason to reflect on that yesterday as he
and son Brendon basked in the group one glory Nightlign presented them with in Saturday's $175,000 Ford Manawatu Sires' Produce at Awapuni.
If Armanasco - who died last year, aged 92 - played a part in this victory, he can take a bow from the other side.
This was a stunning 2-year-old win.
Armanasco was regarded as a genius with 2-year-olds - it was said that he revolutionised the preparation of juveniles in Australia.
He was almost as well known for his punting - it was not unusual for him to have $10,000 on one of his horses.
"Angus was a great believer that you shouldn't do too much with preparing 2-year-olds," said Hawtin.
"He was a great trot and canter man, and always said the only thing you need to teach juveniles is how to sprint up."
Sprint up was on the Hawtin's mind at his Te Awamutu base on Tuesday morning.
"I didn't like to say anything in the press because it can make you look silly, but I sprinted this horse Tuesday and I clocked him to run his last 400m in a touch worse than 21sec," he said.
"I couldn't have been more than a second out."
That's digging holes in the track and it made sense when you saw what Nightlign did when Michael Coleman cut him loose at the business end of Saturday's feature.
Keith Hawtin has had an interesting life in horse racing.
He started out at age 10 with the irrepressible Rory McGovern at Matamata, spent two years at Te Awamutu with Luke Wilson then to the first of his two stints with Armanasco in Melbourne.
"I came home to get married, ended up staying here for four years with Kevin Old at Matamata then went back to Melbourne and Angus Armanasco for eight years."
After 20 years with Graeme Rogerson at Tuhikaramea, Hawtin spent 12 months training in Dubai, which he says he thoroughly enjoyed.
"But you've got to have 40 to 50 horses to be competitive, and it's difficult to keep up the interest of New Zealand owners when you're so far away."
He managed the Rogerson stables in Melbourne and Sydney then moved back to Te Awamutu when son Brendon was keen to have a crack at training.
Nightlign is a direct result of the time with Armanasco.
"At one point I was directly looking after three topliners in the stable, Turf Ruler, Full On Aces and The Judge."
Turf Ruler hinted he was going to be top class when he ran third in Dulcify's Derby.
Full On Aces won the Golden Slipper and The Judge was a fine weight-for-age horse.
"I decided to buy Nightlign's dam Indian Squaw because she was by Carolingian, who was by Bletchingly - all that good Australian speed blood.
"I think we paid only $9000 for her and I said to [wife] Lyn 'this could be our retirement plan'."
That is not far off the mark - Hawtin sold Nightlign to Hong Kong interests after his first win for $150,000, which might sound cheap now, but it was good money for a one-win horse for Hawtin.
Nightlign will now spell and a decision is still a few days off whether his 3-year-old racing with be in New Zealand with the Hawtins or in Hong Kong for the new owners.
Even without Nightlign as the flag bearer, Keith Hawtin says the stable has some good material coming through.
"We've got three or four maiden that are ready to break through for a win and I reckon by the end of winter we'll have a really nice racing team."
Excuses were impossible from the beaten brigade.
Runner-up Fleur De'Here ran on strongly and Alamosa took away the Ford Two-Year-Old Of The Year title with his solid finish into third after starting from a wide gate.
Lisa Cropp thought the second favourite Pierre Joseph did not manage the home bend as well as he might before finishing fourth and the rest were beaten on their merits.
* Overall the opposition was ordinary, but this was possibly Sir Slick's finest victory.
It wasn't so much the 4 1/2 length margin, it was the way Sir Slick kept accelerating in the home straight with little encouragement from rider Bruce Herd. You just don't see even good horses doing that. But you do see absolute top horses do it.
All Square, Arabian Knights and Balmuse were not stopping in the final 220m - Sir Slick was accelerating away from them.
Equine ability alone won't beat him in New Zealand at the moment but weight and inclement weather could.
Let's hope it's not a wet track for the Champions Mile at Ellerslie on Saturday week.
The day turned sour for Herd, however, when he suspened for five riding days and received a $1000 fine for his ride on Castlebar in the Manawatu Classic earlier in the day.
Herd pleaded guilty to a charge of careless riding and was suspended from after Wednesday's racing up to and including April 12.