‘People laughed at me’: David Hayes likens Mr Brightside to famed superstar Better Loosen Up

Master trainer David Hayes has spoken from Hong Kong to senior racing writer Ben Dorries about the amazing similarities between Mr Brightside and his former superstar, Better Loosen Up.

Better Loosen Up and trainer David Hayes at Living Legends in 2011.

Who’s laughing now?

Training legend David Hayes remembers how people thought he must have gone off the deep end when he strongly compared Mr Brightside early in his career to his champion former galloper Better Loosen Up.

Fast forward to 2024, and the similarities are becoming eerie.

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The similarities in racing, consistency, improvement from season to season, determination, connections, colour and the fact Better Loosen Up and Mr Brightside both came towards the start of a training career (David, and now his boys Ben, JD and Will) have become remarkable.

Hayes, speaking to Racenet from Hong Kong where he now trains, says Mr Brightside has a couple more boxes to tick before he can edge alongside Better Loosen Up.

But he’s quickly getting there.

“It is quite amazing,” Hayes told Racenet.

“After about his third win for the boys, I told anyone who would listen that Mr Brightside reminded me a lot of Better Loosen Up.

“People laughed at me. Mr Brightside also was just a plain looking horse from an unfashionable stallion and he had the same galloping action and was no-nonsense and quiet like Better Loosen Up.

“When I came back from Hong Kong on my first holiday back to Australia, Tom (Dabernig) had just left Lindsay Park and a lot of horses had left the stable.

“I went down to track work and I said to my wife Prue, ‘I don’t know if I have seen any good horses this morning’.

“It turned out Mr Brightside was in among the horses, I totally looked over him because he wasn’t an amazing worker and he didn’t catch my eye.

“Then I started watching him race and I thought, s**t, he reminds me of Better Loosen Up. And people laughed.”

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David Hayes says comparisons between Mr Brightside and Better Loosen Up are entirely fair. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images.

Better Loosen Up was a hero horse of the early 1990s, winning eight Group 1s including the 1990 Cox Plate and a famous win taking on the world in the Japan Cup in the same year.

What a horse!

The Japan Cup is due to be run this Sunday so let's take a look at the hero Better Loosen Up flying the flag for Australia in 1990! 🇯🇵x🦘@LongBallToNoOne@netkeiba#競馬#騎手#JRApic.twitter.com/0XCZbuoC8x

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) November 21, 2023

Mr Brightside is two Group 1 wins adrift of Better Loosen Up but also won last year’s All-Star Mile and is the raging $2 favourite to post consecutive wins in the race on March 16.

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Mr Brightside. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images.

The Group 1 Australian Cup worth $3m on March 30 will also be in Mr Brightside’s sweet spot, after the star galloper has started his autumn campaign by reeling off a pair of stirring Group 1 wins.

“If Mr Brightside wins the All-Star Mile, which he is expected to win, you can look at it as though he has won eight Group 1s because All-Star Miles are like Group 1s,” Hayes said.

“It’s a bloody good record, especially with his seconds thrown in.

“Before injury, Better Loosen Up just kept getting better as his preparations went on and he was almost invincible.

“It is kind of what this horse (Mr Brightside) is doing now. Mr Brightside rates so highly so many times in a row, he never runs a bad race.

“And when he runs second, it takes a freak performance to beat him.”

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David Hayes with Better Loosen Up back in the day.

So, in Hayes’ mind, what does Mr Brightside have to do to level up with Better Loosen Up?

There’s a simple answer and Hayes sounds confident Mr Brightside will achieve it.

“If he could win a Group 1 at 2000(m) and then probably win internationally, what more could he do?” Hayes said.

“A big step in levelling up with Better Loosen Up would be winning the Australian Cup, that’s uncharted territory for Mr Brightside.

“It is probably just a matter of time before he ticks the 2000m weight-for-age box and then in his future there is probably a trip overseas to take on the best in the world somewhere.

“You wouldn’t take him overseas, probably to Hong Kong, unless he is in the form he is in now.

“But he shows no signs of losing his form.”

Just like Better Loosen Up jet-propelled David Hayes’ training career, he says Mr Brightside is doing the same for his three sons.

David Hayes’ sons Will, Ben and JD Hayes after Mr Brightside won the Memsie Stakes last spring. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images.

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MR BRIGHTSIDE GOES BACK-TO-BACK IN THE DONCASTER!@[e-mail]/ZYhxNnYCsq

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) April 1, 2023

Lindsay Park, which appeared to be facing some troubled times when David left for Hong Kong, is now in great shape with training partners Ben, JD and Will Hayes at the helm.

“When Tom (Dabernig) left, Lindsay Park probably lost 30 horses and 17 staff so my boys basically had to start again,” Hayes said.

“The hotel (Lindsay Park) wasn’t full for a while, it was at 50 per cent occupancy, so to do what my boys have done has been terrific.

“But you also really have to pay credit to Mr Brightside. He has gone from a maiden to arguably the horse of the year, it’s an incredible effort.

“It’s a terrific training effort by the boys, but a better effort by the horse to race so consistently for so long.”

MR BRIGHTSIDE (career so far)

Record: 16 wins from 31 starts.

Group 1s: 6.

Prizemoney: $12.37m.

Best wins: Doncaster Mile (twice), Makybe Diva Stakes, Orr Stakes, Memsie Stakes, Futurity Stakes, All-Star Mile.

BETTER LOOSEN UP (passed away in 2016)

Record: 17 wins from 45 starts.

Group 1s: 8.

Prizemoney: $4.77m.

Best wins: Australian Cup, Japan Cup, Cox Plate, Mackinnon Stakes, Turnbull Stakes.

Originally published as ‘People laughed at me’: David Hayes likens Mr Brightside to famed superstar Better Loosen Up