Hickmott’s four-pack ready to fire

By Josh Spasaro

Michael Hickmott says his litter siblings racing at Townsville from a Moving Target and Gunnadoo Avenue mating will be competitive on Friday.

All four of them – Action Man, Miss Target, Target Point and Teleporter – will turn two on December 7.

“I’m waiting to see whether they come on or not. They’re going to need a few runs,” Hickmott said.

“They’re not world-beaters.”

Despite the modest assessment, Action Man showed good potential while winning his maiden in his third start over 380 metres on September 18.

He will jump from box one over the same distance on Friday.

“He’s got a good chance, but he’s always drawn wide and he seems to want to go straight to the rail,” Hickmott said.

“So, he’ll have a good chance there.”

The black dog, who weighs almost 35kg, jumped cleanly from box seven to win his maiden last month.

His winning time was 22.82 seconds.

“He started good. I’ve put him in with some real fast dogs and he can hang with them and he has run some smart times,” Hickmott said.

“He’s a big dog. He’s a nice-looking dog and I have a big wrap on him. He could click, but we’ve just got to wait and see.

“He’ll definitely jump to the front - it’s whether he’ll keep going with it.”

Miss Target will attempt to break her maiden status in her sixth career start, which is also over 380 metres at Townsville on Friday.

Drawing box seven this week, she fought well to get third after overcoming a check on September 25.

“She’s got a little bit of ability and she’ll be honest,” Hickmott said.

“She’ll click. She’s run some fair trials, that bitch. When I say fair trials, she broke 22 seconds.

“She’s no world-beater, but she’s competitive.

“I’ve been expecting her to click. I don’t own her - I bred them for a couple of mates.

“I said to them, ‘You can definitely back her for a place.’”

Target Point is also chasing a maiden victory in his third start after being allocated box six in race one.

“He’s only a 22.30 second dog and he’s slow out," the trainer said.

"He’s starting to jump a bit better at the moment, so hopefully he’ll be competitive."

And, Hickmott has previously spoken about how Teleporter has potential over 498 metres. 

The black bitch finished unplaced over that distance on two occasions last month.

She won on debut over 380 metres on July 10, with her other career victory coming on August 11.

Teleporter will jump from box five over 380 metres at Townsville on Friday.

It is race six on the program and she has two wins from her 11 career starts.

“She’s got a lot of ability, but she’s another one who’s a bit tardy out of the boxes, too,” Hickmott said when asked about her in the weeks following her debut victory.