How Succession should have ended: Hayes dynasty proves what’s possible when a family gets it right

If Hollywood’s drama-making wing were to cast an eye across our racing industry, they wouldn’t have to look far to find their next Succession story.

The Hayes family’s is a dynasty that spans three-quarters of a century, several states, calculated risks and several mighty horses.

Brothers JD, Ben and Will Hayes trained two of the first four winners on Cox Plate day.Credit: Eddie Jim

Their Lindsay Park training empire has been passed down through the decades under the watchful eyes of seven different trainers and now sits in the capable hands of its third generation – brothers Ben, Will and J.D. Hayes.

But there is one slight hitch for a voyeuristic audience expecting the sort of narcissistic tantrums that play out on TV. Because, unlike the rich, powerful and ruthless media mogul family at the heart of the HBO series, the Hayes family’s transition of power continues to just work.

The Roy siblings (from second left) in Succession: Connor (played by Alan Ruck), Roman (Kieran Culkin), Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Siobhan (Sarah Snook).Credit: Credit: HBO

“Look, we all fight,” Australian Racing Hall of Fame trainer David Hayes said. “All families have their little fights. But the boys keep it behind closed doors, and they are more disagreements than fights.

“And as you can see, they’re normally arriving at the right decisions.”

A pleasure to watch

The “right decisions” their proud father refers to are the preparation and placement of the Lindsay Park horses. It was plain to see on the morning of Melbourne Cup Day.

Moments after eldest son Ben was interviewed by his wife and TAB form analyst Grace Ramage as part of the Channel 9 coverage, he was joining his co-training twin brothers – Will and J.D. – to win the first race, the group 3 Maribyrnong Plate.

Not only did they have the winner, they had the first three past the post. It was the sort of national exposure that money can’t buy.

Trainer Ben Hayes and wife Grace Ramage.Credit: Eddie Jim

“It’s the best result we could have asked for,” the brothers said.

The politely spoken and approachable Hayes boys did not have a Cup runner this year, but they picked off races throughout the spring.

Their parents, David and Prue, flew back from their training base in Hong Kong to see the boys win two of the first four races at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate day, including the group 2 Fillies Classic with Double Market.

It helped that the filly, Double Market, was part-owned by Lindsay Park Bloodstock, an arm of the business that is managed by the boys’ sister, Sophie Steel.

“They’re really ticking along well,” David said after the race. “Like my father, I get a big thrill seeing them win. It’s well-deserved, but it gives me a lot of pleasure to watch it.”

The first handover

The youngest of four children, David Hayes, was a talented track-and-field athlete who fancied himself as a footballer.

As a 20-year-old during the early 1980s, he played reserves for Central Districts in the SANFL. He had further ambitions until his father, Australian Racing Hall of Fame Legend Colin Hayes, watched him one afternoon and told him his future lay in training.

He took over his father’s hugely successful Lindsay Park operation in the Barossa Valley in 1990, aged 28, and won the Cox Plate and Japan Cup that year with his champion gelding Better Loosen Up.

“If there were [training] partnerships back then, I’m sure we would have gone together,” David says now. “The only difference was poor old Dad was unhealthy. He had a pretty crook two years before he retired, and he had to retire.”

David’s older brother by 13 years, Peter was a talented horseman, but his first instincts were not to train. He often clashed with their horse-obsessed father because he was equally interested in a life outside the sport – flying light planes, riding bikes and yoga.

Eldest sister Jan (born in 1950) remained in the business after marrying Lindsay Park stud master Arthur Dabernig, while third child Kerrie (born in 1956) would help run the family’s multimillion-dollar dried fruit export company, Angas Park Fruits, with her late American husband Paul Mariani.

Better Loosen Up won the 1990 Cox Plate and Japan Cup for David Hayes.Credit: Geoff Ampt

But custodianship of Lindsay Park transferred to Peter in 1996 when David took up a lucrative trainer’s licence in Hong Kong. The older brother and his legendary father made peace and agreed to get along.

“Pete wasn’t into it as much as me, but he was a bloody good trainer. He would have made my job a lot easier [as a co-trainer],” David says.

“You know, I see how hard they [my three boys] work now, and I think we had four [kids] under five, Prue and I, and 300 horses and one trainer. It was hard work. Hard work.”

A family rocked

The Hayes lost their patriarch, C.S., in 1999, and were rocked again when tragedy struck in 2001. A keen pilot for 20 years, Peter was killed in a light plane crash at Mildura, aged just 52.

Long-time lieutenant Tony McEvoy stepped in as trainer until David returned from Hong Kong in 2005. At the same time, Peter’s son Sam took over the management of Lindsay Park Stud. He sold out of the game in the middle of last year.

David was one of the first in the industry to embrace the potential of training partnerships. Lindsay Park had undergone a seismic shift, pouring $21 million into a new training base at Euroa so they could leave the Barossa Valley and position the business between Melbourne and Sydney.

David knew he could not go it alone, so in 2014 he invited his sister Jan’s son, Tom Dabernig, to join him at the helm. Together, they won several training premierships and 19 group 1s.

Tom Dabernig (right) is departing Lindsay Park with Ben Hayes (left) to be joined by younger brother J.D. Hayes in partnership.Credit: Getty Images

Dabernig knew the family business well. He grew up at the coalface of Lindsay Park, learning to ride, acting as a chauffeur for his famous grandfather, operating a horse-breaking business at the Euroa property and spending four years training on his own.

But a year after David returned to Hong Kong in 2020, Dabernig opted to go it alone rather than remain in a partnership with his cousins – Ben and J.D. He set up a stable in Warrnambool to create a new legacy for his own three boys. His parents spend their time between Warrnambool and Adelaide.

“He surprised us when he decided he wanted to leave,” David said. “But, you know, if you don’t want to be somewhere, you want to be somewhere else, you have to go with their wishes, and that’s what he wanted to do.

“He was going terrific with Ben, yeah, but he wanted to train in a smaller environment.

David Hayes (right), pictured with sons Ben, J.D. and Will in 2016.Credit: Justin McManus

With Dabernig gone, the twins – first Will and then J.D. in 2023 – opted for careers in training. Before joining Ben they both played VFL, while Will played 13 AFL games between the Western Bulldogs and Carlton.

“J.D. will play a bit of hobby football [next year], playing with his mates,” David said. “With three trainers they can cover for each other.

David Hayes moved Lindsay Park to Euroa.Credit: Eddie Jim

“I think Will has signed up with Carlton’s VFL side. His AFL career is finished, but he got there, he played on the MCG, played for the Bulldogs, and did a lot of what I would have loved to have done.”

Intuition counts

The late C.S. Hayes said during a 1970 interview that the secret of being a successful trainer was good horses.

“After that, it’s four-fifths hard work and routine, with the other fifth intuition. But it’s the last fifth that really counts,” he said.

The three Hayes brothers – Ben, Will and J.D. – have their good horse, Mr Brightside. He stormed to victory at Flemington on Saturday in the $3 million Champions Mile. So far, their hard work and routine has seen the seven-year-old gelding win eight group 1s and $17.5 million in prizemoney.

On Saturday, they backed their intuition by having Mr Brightside wear blinkers (headwear that keeps a horse focused) for the first time at his 40th start.

Whether they argued over that decision will stay behind closed doors. Perhaps their father had to dial in from Hong Kong.

“They do all the day-to-day training now,” David said. “I’m just basically there for support, or if they’re arguing too much and need a Judge Judy.

“But on the whole, I’m just a fan. I just love watching them, and I’m a father who supports them.”

It’s not a bad line: A father who supports them. The first rule of succession.

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