Bounty Hawk is best remembered for the classic battles with Prolific and Sir Dapper and was up to matching any of them

BOUNTY HAWK was a beautifully bred son of BALMERINO out of MARIE'S DAUGHTER (Rockefella), a half-brother to that former good stayer PARTICIPATOR, winner of the 1976 A.J.C. Autumn Stakes, trained by TJ Smith. Bounty Hawk, a late foal with a turned knee was bred by J.P Jack’ Atkins who stood Balmerino at his Middlepark Stud at Cambridge and retained by him and his wife Jean to race after the horse suffered several injuries as a youngster. Indeed, Jack and Jean Atkins had to resort to hand-feeding as a foal. Bounty Hawk was gelded early in life and he didn’t make his racecourse debut until mid-June 1983 when he finished a modest eighth in a handicap at Canterbury. Two further unplaced runs ensued before his first season was over.

BOUNTY HAWK, with John 'JJ' Marshall as jockey, achieved his inaugural victory in a 1600m race on the opening day of the new season, during the A.J.C.'s Bank Holiday Meeting, which was held at Warwick Farm that year. The horse subsequently secured minor earnings in its following three starts prior to being paired with its stablemate, PROLIFIC, for the A.J.C. Spring Champion Stakes. Despite Bounty Hawk's last-place finish, trainer Bart Cummings expressed no disappointment, as the gelding's primary objective was the Victoria Derby. On Derby Day, with favourable fast ground conditions, Bounty Hawk, demonstrating a clear preference for anti-clockwise galloping, and COBBOBONEE secured another notable Flemington quinella for the Cups' King. Bounty Hawk emerged as the comfortable victor by a margin of two lengths, with COBBOBONEE maintaining a similar advantage over the third-place finisher, ALBANY BAY.

The progeny of Balmerino emerged as a prominent performer within the Cummings' stable, participating in the WATC Summer Meeting in Perth. This inclusion was largely influenced by Jim Atkins, the gelding's co-owner and breeder, who aimed to enhance Balmerino's market value in anticipation of the 1984 New Zealand National Yearling Sales. An additional incentive, naturally, was the $300,000 bonus offered to any horse achieving victory in the Ascot Triple Crown, which comprised the WATC West Australian Derby, the Western Mail Classic, and the Australian Derby.

This outcome nearly represented the most substantial pay day in De Montfort's professional history. Two weeks subsequent to his victory in the Victoria Derby, Bounty Hawk, favoured at 2/1 odds, narrowly missed securing the West Australian Derby by a short neck, ultimately being surpassed by OLD CURRENCY, after advancing from the rear of a fifteen-horse field.

Bounty Hawk achieved victory in the two remaining legs of the Ascot Triple Crown with relative ease. In fact, he finished five lengths ahead of the second-place horse, Albany Bay in the Australian Derby. Despite being a strong contender for the Perth Cup at the culmination of his campaign, Bounty Hawk was withdrawn on race day due to a viral infection. Nevertheless, the Golden West proved to be a significant source of revenue for the Cummings team.

The unfortunate aspect of Bounty Hawk's rise to prominence during the spring and early summer of 1983 was that his breeder, raiser, and owner, Jack Atkins, was unable to fully appreciate his accomplishment after dedicating his life to breeding a champion. During Bounty Hawk's most successful year on the racecourse, Jack Atkins experienced a series of progressively debilitating strokes. It was Atkins’ son, Les, who was the de-facto owner of Bounty Hawk during those glory days. On the Saturday night after the gelding had won the Victoria Derby, Les had taken the blue riband and placed it in his father’s hands at the Manly nursing home.

Bounty Hawk continued to be the preferred Derby horse of Leilani Lodge. Heavy rain during the preceding week saw the Canterbury Guineas postponed from Saturday until the last Wednesday in March. Despite the challenging conditions of an overcast day and a track officially rated as heavy, Bounty Hawk maintained his exceptional performance from the Derby, narrowly being defeated by the imported Kiwi, BEECHCRAFT now in the hands of Colin Hayes. Despite the recent outcome, Bart maintained a high degree of confidence regarding Bounty Hawk's Derby prospects, a sentiment that persisted until the commencement of the Rosehill Guineas.

Bounty Hawk went to the post as a short-priced 6/4 favourite for the Guineas, with Johnny Marshall in the saddle. Until Rosehill Guineas Day, the Cups’ King believed in Bounty Hawk for the Derby but that colt seemed to be training off, perhaps not surprising, given his exhaustive summer campaign in Western Australia.

Bounty Hawk occupied the third line of Derby betting. The Balmerino gelding’s last win had come in the Australian Derby in Perth on Boxing Day and many punters were sceptical that any horse subject to a gruelling summer campaign in Perth could be at his best for an autumn campaign in Sydney, especially since Bounty Hawk’s recent Sydney form had become decidedly ordinary. After impressive seconds in both the Hobartville Stakes and Canterbury Guineas while fresh, Bounty Hawk had then failed miserably in the Rosehill Guineas after he had failed to run a place in the WFA Tancred Stake. Bounty Hawk, the most highly-regarded staying three-year-old in Cummings’ stable, finished fourth in the Derby to stablemate PROLIFIC, and seemingly appeared a tired horse.

Bounty Hawk proved a different proposition as a four-year-old. Cummings had always regarded him as a quailty handicapper rather than a genuine weight-for-age horse and he was delighted when he got him into the 1984 Caulfield Cup with 54kg and the Melbourne Cup with only one kilo more. Upon the declaration of weights, the lean and determined gelding was designated for the Cups' double. Bounty Hawk resumed with placings in the Warwick Stakes, Chelmsford Stakes and Hill Stakes before being taken to Melbourne where he won the Gr.1 Underwood Stakes on a slow track at Caulfield

Bounty Hawk almost fell when he blundered into the back of COLONIAL FLAG at the 1800 metre mark in the Caulfield Cup. He recovered quickly and looked the likely winner when turning for home, only to be outstayed by the powerful finisher AFFINITY to go under by a half-length. Bounty Hawk posted a brilliant Melbourne Cup trial when he took out the Gr.1 Mackinnon Stakes on the first day of the V.R.C. Spring Meeting. Bart always looked back on the Melbourne Cup as one that got away. After entering thirty-six horses for the race back in June, Bounty Hawk would be his sole representative in the Cup that year. But he was confident about this gelding, who had won the phenomenal sum of $654,620 going into the race.

Unfortunately, Bounty Hawk was effectively eliminated from contention within the initial 600 metres when SECURED DEPOSIT, a large brown gelding from New Zealand, forced him onto the heels of other competitors, thereby impeding ALIBHAI in the ensuing congestion. The New Zealand jockey Neil Hain was later suspended for four weeks by stewards after an adjourned inquiry into the race. Bart and Bounty licked their wounds and waited for the Japan Cup later that same month in which the horse was Australia’s nomination. Bounty Hawk could only run eighth in the Japan Cup after being prominent early. Upon his return to Sydney, the gelding underwent a surgical operation for his windsucking, a habit that had worsened.

Bounty Hawk never again regained his best form after the operation and the V.R.C. Mackinnon Stakes proved to be his last victory on a racecourse. Brought back by Cummings in the spring of 1985, Bounty Hawk was again aimed at the Cups’ double. However, after finishing a reasonable seventh behind TRISTARC in the Caulfield Cup, he developed a bruised and infected hoof which forced his scratching from the Melbourne Cup three days before the race.

Bounty Hawk was transferred into the stables of leading New Zealand trainer Dave O’Sullivan, following a falling out between the Atkins family and Cummings. It was notable that when the family successfully raced some of Balmerino’s later progeny in Sydney, including RAJAMAH and BOUNTIFUL STAR (a full sister to Bounty Hawk), they did so through the stables of Bart’s great rival, Tommy Smith. Bounty Hawk died in 1993 but will be remembered for some of his great battles and sublime victories against formidable competition.

RACE RECORD - 52: 6-16

STAKES EARNINGS - $AU678,670

G1 VRC DERBY 1983

G1 WATC DERBY

G1 UNDERWOOD STAKES

G1 MACKINNON STAKES

G1 AJC METROPOLITAN 1984

2nd G1 CAULFIELD CUP