The Hayes brothers are still trying to get back to normality after fire ripped through Lindsay Park, but early indications are their horses have taken no harm from the drama.
A fortnight ago, Ben, Will and JD Hayes were fighting spot fires around Lindsay Park before having to evacuate, leaving some horses behind as the bushfires looked set for a direct hit on the farm.
“When we left, I thought there’s going to be nothing to come back to,” JD Hayes said.
“The RFS did an incredible job and we were lucky that the farm’s set-up saved a lot of it.”
Hayes admitted there were concerns about how the smoke would affect the horses, but results are positive.
“We have already had a couple of winners from the horses left on the farm – Macedon Rose and No Limitation,” he said. “Horses are actually handled it better than the trainers.”
“There are plenty going around this week as things get back to normal, so let’s hope the trend continues.”
“The big one for me is Touchdown, stayed on the farm.”
“He’s back the races and hopefully he can continue his rise through the grades.”
Touchdown, a son of Almanzor, has won four of six starts but has been well placed by the Hayes brothers to still be eligible for a benchmark 78 to close the Caulfield card on Saturday.
There are bigger things in store for Touchdown, and he looks like a Group performer in the making, but it is a case of taking small steps at the moment.
“We did the same with Mr Brightside taking every benchmark race we can, and it is something we would like to do with him,” Hayes said. “There might be a good race for him coming up in Sydney, but this could also be his last run because we are going to look after him.”
“He looks to be in the right race again on the weekend.”
Stradbroke winner War Machine returns in Friday night’s Australia Stakes at Pakenham as a short-priced favourite after being down the track in The Everest in the spring.
“It looks like a small field, and he’s short in the market, so hopefully the market is correct,” Hayes said.
“We’ve always thought that he might be able to get out over a mile, especially the way [he won] in the Stradbroke.”
“We’ve got our eye on The All-Star Mile, and a few options after that as well. Hopefully, he’s got about four or five Grand Finals, but that’ll be the first one.”
“He’s a horse that we’re looking forward to kicking off because we think he’s got a big autumn in him.”
