Lindsay Park trainer Ben Hayes has warmed to the idea of the King Charles III Stakes/Cox Plate spring double for Mr Brightside
Lindsay Park has warmed to the idea of the King Charles III Stakes/Cox Plate spring double for Mr Brightside.
Horse Racing
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Lindsay Park trainer Ben Hayes has warmed to the idea of a King Charles III Stakes/Cox Plate spring double for Group 1 star Mr Brightside.
The six-year-old brute, fresh off a $4.8m jackpot autumn which included the All-Star Mile and a second Doncaster Mile, will resume on Saturday in the Group 2 PB Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield — a race he won first-up last year.
The PB Lawrence should be the easiest race Mr Brightside runs in this spring.
“He’s proven he’s a Group 1 horse so we’ll run in Group 1 races,” co-trainer Ben Hayes said.
Mr Brightside tuned up for the first-up assignment with a powerful display in an 800m jumpout win at Flemington last Monday.
The Bullbars gelding will tackle the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) and Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) after the PB Lawrence before an “obvious” target in the $5m King Charles III Stakes, formerly George Main Stakes, at Randwick on October 14.
“Sydney have put on a lovely race for him, so he’ll hit that fourth up and then Cox Plate two weeks’ later,” Hayes said.
“It’s not confirmed we’re going there but that’s probably the obvious race to go for, prizemoney wise and he’s undefeated in Sydney.”
Lindsay Park has travelled to Sydney twice with Mr Brightside and gang tackled the prestigious Group 1 Doncaster Mile in successive years.
It is hoped the record will be improved in eight weeks’ time with Lindsay Park to emulate Mr Brightside’s past autumn campaigns in spring.
“He arrived there (Sydney) fourth up last preparation and won the Doncaster, very, very similar,” Hayes said of the planned build-up.
Mr Brightside is atop TAB markets for the Memsie Stakes ($4.50 equal favourite), Makybe Diva Stakes ($5 equal favourite) and King Charles III Stakes ($6 favourite).
The $8.2m prizemoney earner, who finished seventh in the Cox Plate last year, is rated a $15 chance for Australia’s best race this year.
Originally published as Lindsay Park trainer Ben Hayes has warmed to the idea of the King Charles III Stakes/Cox Plate spring double for Mr Brightside
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