Team Hayes ready to shock Stradbroke rivals

The Hayes boys will get a golden Group 1 chance to do something their legendary Dad has never managed – win Queensland’s prestigious Stradbroke Handicap.

Here To Shock secures a golden ticket into the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap by winning the BRC Sprint at Doomben. Picture: Grant Peters / Trackside Photography.

The Hayes boys will get a golden Group 1 chance to do something their legendary Dad has never managed – win Queensland’s prestigious Stradbroke Handicap.

Brothers JD, Will and Ben have a Stradbroke contender with Here To Shock scraping home in the $300,000 Group 3 BRC Sprint at Doomben, a race which gives the winner a golden ticket into next month’s Stradbroke at Eagle Farm.

It is another feather in the cap of the Hayes boys, who with Mr Brightside have twice claimed the Doncaster Mile, a race the famous racing family had never previously won.

David Hayes, speaking from Hong Kong where he now trains, said he continued to be immensely proud of the efforts of his sons.

Hayes Sr said he had not personally unleashed many runners in the Stradbroke and was delighted his sons would deploy Here To Shock, which firmed from $51 into $15 in Stradbroke betting after his narrow BRC Sprint win.

Here To Shock - here to win!

A photo in the G3 BRC Sprint at Doomben with Here To Shock now into the Stradbroke, and a winning Doomben double for Michael Dee!@[e-mail]/9DpcZ94iDW

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 25, 2024

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Tony Gollan galloper Freedom Rally was desperately unlucky in the BRC Sprint and almost certainly should have won, coming from a mile back after bumbling the start to make things interesting on the line.

But there was no taking away from the win of Here To Shock who won as an $8 chance and will now get another shot at Group 1 glory after previously being unplaced in four Group 1 attempts.

“Photo finishes haven’t really been going our way over the last six months, so it was great to get the head down,” JD Hayes said.

“It was a brave effort by the horse, a terrific ride and it was just super.

“The BRC Sprint-Stradbroke Handicap double is hard to do, but he’s a horse in form and that is a force to be reckoned with.”

The photo finish result seemed to take an eternity as unlucky Freedom Rally lunged but came up just short in what was his almost certainly his last chance to snare a spot in the Stradbroke.

“This horse has really really gone to another level!”

Here To Shock won the BRC Sprint at Doomben, hear from JD Hayes 👇@[e-mail]/JrnSsTQFwu

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) May 25, 2024

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Winning jockey Michael Dee endured a nervous wait for the numbers to be posted, but was always fairly confident he had won.

“I thought I might have just held on,” Dee said.

“It was a good tough effort, but I’m glad the winning post came up when it did.”

Craig Williams finished a narrow second in consecutive races in a row after just coming up short on New Endeavour in the Group 1 Doomben Cup only 40 minutes earlier.

He and Gollan were left to rue what could have been with Freedom Rally, who could have joined stablemate Antino in the Stradbroke.

“He is a serious horse,” Williams said, of Freedom Rally.

“He was in the gates a long time and he hated it.

“From where we were in the run, we were dictated to, but it was a huge run.”

Originally published as Team Hayes ready to shock Stradbroke rivals