Felix ready to fire up

By Glenn Davis

For a small stable, Peter and Will Hulbert have developed an uncanny knack of finding a good horse or two since forming their training partnership eight years ago.

The Peter and Will Hulbert stable has produced six figure prize money earners Criminal Defence, Hail Manhattan and Oh Five Glory to name a few in recent times, while Peter Hulbert trained Endless Shadow, winner of the Magic Millions Fillies & Mares race in 2015 when he was training solo.

Hail Manhattan went on to win the 2021 Listed Member’s Cup at the Sunshine Coast prior to last year’s Mackay Cup triumph while Oh Five Glory finished fifth to Godolphin’s Exhilarates in the Magic Millions Classic in 2019.

Oh Five Glory is now a valuable broodmare after earning Black Type when placed in the Listed Dalrello Stakes at Eagle Farm in 2019 and second in the Listed Mode Plate at Doomben the same year.

Criminal Defence won only two races for Team Hulbert before being sold to Hong Kong after giving the pair the thrill of a lifetime winning their first Group race in the Group 3 Rough Habit Plate at Doomben two years ago.

The Rough Habit victory gave Team Hulbert their first Queensland Derby starter, but unfortunately Criminal Defence was at the end of a long campaign and finished in the second half of the field.

This year has seen the Hulbert’s produce another future star with promising two-year-old Felix The Scat.

Peter Hulbert has been training for more than 40 years and has never had a two-year-old that shows as much promise as Felix The Scat.

Felix The Scat was bred by Rockhampton’s Dianne Cooper and never went through a sale ring.

Hulbert senior has vivid memories of when he first sighted Felix The Scat while he was being unloaded from a float at his Hendra stables in Brisbane.

“He looked like a three-year-old then even though he had just turned two,” Hulbert said.

“He was a lovely big strong horse with a great nature.”

Felix The Scat is a son of Coolmore’s one season shuttle stallion Mendelssohn, and gave the American-based stallion his first two-year-old winner in Australia when he won at Doomben in late February.

His mother, Miss Pocket Rocket, a daughter of Smart Missile, was a $140,000 Magic Millions buy but failed in her only racetrack appearance at Hawkesbury in 2016 for Sydney’s Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

Felix The Scat’s pedigree links to multiple Group 3 winner Walking And Dancing, Group 1 SATC Champagne Stakes runner-up Aim For Gold and Godolphin’s top broodmare Youthful Presence.

Youthful Presence is the dam of four Stakes winners including Group 1 Epsom Handicap winner Hauraki and South Australian Derby winner Kidnapped.

It’s no wonder the Hulbert’s believe Felix The Scat is destined for a staying future.

The Hulbert’s flagged their long-term ambition with Felix The Scat early in his career.

In his race debut in the Pat O’Shea Stakes at Toowoomba in September last year, Felix The Scat jumped well but soon found himself at the tail of the field midway through the race.

Ridden by former stable apprentice Adin Thompson, Felix The Scat never got going until approaching the home turn and rattled home for an eye-catching fifth, beaten less than four lengths.

“He was a bit slow out of the gates at Toowoomba but he ran home very strongly,” Hulbert said.

“We thought he had a great chance in the Pat O’Shea had he jumped cleanly, but they went very fast and it proved to be too short for him.”

The Hulbert’s gave the colt one more start in his first campaign when he finished a strong third after being trapped three wide behind the Les Ross-trained Mishani Renegade at Eagle Farm last October.

“It took him a while to get going again in his second start and he did a great job when he again hit the line well,” Hulbert said.

Felix The Scat returned from a break as a bigger and stronger type and trialled well twice at Deagon before making a winning return at Doomben on February 25.

He destroyed his rivals over 1350m, romping home by more than four lengths.

“He trialled exceptionally well twice at Deagon and had had a few jump outs as well so we put him in a 1350m race and it worked out well,” Hulbert said.

“We just thought first up would be a was a waste of time running in a 1200m race when there’s a lot of pressure on early.”

It might only have been a moderate field he beat, but the win initially reinforced plans to aim Felix The Scat for the Group 12 Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington in November.

However, Team Hulbert later revised their Derby plans and re-directed Felix The Scat’s campaign to the Group 1 Champagne Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on April 16.

To confirm a Sydney trip, Felix The Scat had to perform well at his next appearance at Eagle Farm in late March when the colt stepped up to 1400m for the first time.

Well-backed to start a $2.30 favourite, Felix The Scat put up a brave performance, powering home for second behind Sydney raider Bobby Shiraz from the Bjorn Baker stable at Warwick Farm.

“It was a month between runs for him and it turned out to be a muddling run race,” Hulbert said.

“He was a bit keen and got onto the heels of a few after they stopped to a walk up front.

“He didn’t get a chance to track into the race early enough, but his rider (Mark Du Plessis) told us not to be discouraged as it was a great run.”

The Hulbert family has a long involvement in racing.

Peter Hulbert, 77, was born in Cloncurry and was one of four children of former jockey Jerry Hulbert, who rode during WWII.

Peter was only three when his father died of cancer, and he later worked for many years as a jackeroo and rode as an amateur jockey around the Quilpie region in south-west Queensland.

When the time came to move on from riding, Hulbert senior moved to Brisbane and worked for the late Jim Griffiths, who was Queensland’s premier trainer in the 1970s.

He strapped a lot of good horses for Griffiths including one of the stars of that era, Gypsy Kingdom.

Both Peter and Will Hulbert are yet to win a Group 1, but are hoping their time will come with Felix The Scat.