Ben, Will & Jd Hayes had the numbers two and three seed to knock off race-favourite Nadal in Saturday’s $1 million The Supernova (1400m) at Pakenham and did just that, with Here To Shock, ridden by Daniel Stackhouse, edging stablemate Arkansaw Kid in a thrilling stable quinella.
Here To Shock ($4.60) trailed a strong pace set by Buffalo River and had to dig deep to deny Arkansaw Kid ($7), scrambling home by a short half head, with half a length back to Chorlton Lane in third, while $2.50 betting sites favourite Nadal struggled to come on, finishing seventh.
Co-trainer Will Hayes had plenty of confidence in their seven-year-old with the stable electing to pick Here To Shock in their own stable’s slot, despite him finishing 10th in the Big Dance (1600m) at Randwick last start.
“It was terrific. Cheering for both of them. Here To Shock, he’s an absolute marvel. We were very confident after the Big Dance in Sydney that we were going to get him back and we had our eyes set on this race from a long way out. So, that’s why he was representing our slot today,” Hayes said.
“We gave him a tick over trial before this and we we’re really happy with him coming into today.”
Daniel Stackhouse notched up his third winner on Pakenham Cup day and had to pay credit to partner and fellow jockey Tatum Bull.
“I have to thank Tatum (Bull), my partner, for trialling him last week for me, she did me a big solid and she was going to be dirty it if I don’t give her a shout out, so I’d like to thank her and all the Hayes boys, all the owners too,” Stackhouse said.
“I rode him two and a half years ago I think it was, and he’s just a young kid, just out of control really, he’d sweat up, he’d pull, he just did so much wrong, but he always had a lot of ability, and great job to the stable, they sorted him right out in the years that we’re seeing today because of him.”
Whether Here To Shock remains in training over the Summer remains to be seen, but Will Hayes said a Group 1 tilt isn’t off the cards in 2025, with the C F Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield a possible target.
“He’s a pretty dangerous 1,400 metre horse and we still think, well-weighted, he can get a mile. So the options are aplenty. I don’t think many horses will want to be seeing him line up against them.”
