It could be considered ambitious of Ben Hayes to think that this Saturday’s Finals Day card could be as lucrative for the stable as the most recent meeting at Flemington, but he is from a family known for its optimism.
Hayes and his training partner brothers Will and JD will return to Flemington with the four horses who provided them with their first metropolitan four-timer on June 22.
Le Ferrari will contest the $200,000 Listed Winter Championship Final,Sneaky Sunrise runs in the $175,000 Listed Taj Rossi Final, Aztec State goes around in the $200,000 Mahogany Challenge Final, while Crosshaven heads to the $175,000 Listed Santa Ana Lane Sprint Series Final.
“They’re all going to run, they all came through last week well and we can’t fault them,” Hayes said.
“It’s two weeks between runs and they’re all into their Grand Finals, so hopefully they can all perform well again.”
Le Ferrari’s latest win came in the 1420-metre benchmark 84 and the son of Toronado gets out to 1600m for the first time since finishing sixth in the VOBIS Sires Guineas at Sandown in April last year.
“We’ll have a go at the mile because he’s pulled up great, he’s a very fit horse and we figure it’s a good time to try him to out to that trip,” Hayes said.
Veteran gelding Crosshaven will aim for back-to-back wins for the first time since winning the Listed Exford Plate and Group 3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude as a spring three-year-old when he steps back up to 1200m.
“We’ve just done rinse and repeat with him, the same as we did before last start,” Hayes said.
Sneaky Sunrise and Aztec State are the two that Lindsay Park has high hopes for beyond this campaign and Hayes is keen to see both step out further in trip this weekend.
The Autumn Sun filly Sneaky Sunrise has won over 1400m and 1420m at her past two but gets to the 1600m of the Taj Rossi Final, while Aztec State steps up to 2500m for the first time after a strong win at 2000m.
“This will be his first time at 2500, but I’m really happy with him and we’ve been wanting to get him out to that trip for a while,” Hayes said.
Sneaky Sunrise is one of two Taj Rossi nominations for Lindsay Park, which will also run last-start fourth placegetter Jenni’s Meadow, while they could also have dual representation in the $150,000 Next Generation Sprinters Final (1200m) via Clean Reef and Perfectly Good.
Rise At Dawn, who finished second to boom import Craig on June 22, is nominated for the $150,000 Silver Bowl Final (1600m), while Apparatus is in line to contest the $175,000 Listed Creswick Sprint Final (1200m).