Racing: Top trainer answers Waipa call

Dual Premiership-winning trainer Keith Hawtin is returning to New Zealand to train at Te Awamutu.

Hawtin, who partnered Hamilton's Graeme Rogerson to win the trainers' premiership in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001, has been based in Australia for the past three years.

Before that he left Hamilton in 2001 to train in Dubai.

He became Rogerson's foreman in Melbourne when the Dubai stable was closed in April, 2002.

Then he moved to Sydney to take the foreman's job there almost two years ago.

Hawtin, 53, said he would train 28 horses in partnership with his son Brendon, 27, from boxes specially built for him by the Waipa Racing Club at Te Awamutu.

He said he intended starting with 12 horses at the end of August.

"Brendon wants to train and I feel obliged to come home and get him going," Hawtin said.

"I've always liked Te Awamutu. I met my wife in Te Awamutu and her family is from there.

"I worked there when I was a young fellow so it's always been something of a home base for me."

Brendon Hawtin is currently Rogerson's two-year-olds manager in Sydney and, like his father, has an extensive international resume, having worked in the United States, Dubai, Singapore and Australia.

"He's had plenty of grounding and his time has come. It's the right time to come home," Hawtin said.

He said he would look back at his time with Rogerson with fond memories.

"It's been a great ride working for Graeme - it's been 23 years and helped me travel the world," he said.

"He's treated my family as part of his family. He's like a brother to me."

Waipa Racing Club committee member and trainer Graeme Sanders said the club was building 30 boxes for Hawtin.

"We're pretty keen to get him here and hopefully we can get another trainer here as well," Sanders said. "We've got the facilities, we just need the horses."

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Former top New Zealand jockey Midge Didham got a kick out of receiving his retrospective Melbourne Cup trophy at Flemington this week.

Didham rode the Otago stayer Baghdad Note to victory in the 1970 Melbourne Cup.

"I'm thrilled to receive this," he said after the presentation.

"I've been in racing a long time. It's a great thrill for my family, and the grandchildren especially."

Didham, 60, has been resident in Melbourne for a few decades and currently trains a couple of horses.

He told Melbourne's Herald-Sun newspaper riding the grey gelding to victory in the Melbourne Cup was the highlight of his career.

Didham's son John is a jockey and has returned to Melbourne from a long stint in Macau. His other son, Paul, is a race starter in Victoria.

The Victoria Racing Club is awarding retrospective trophies to trainers and jockeys, or their families, who won the cup between 1919 and 1972.

- NZPA