Mr Brightside retirement looms as Hayes reveals possible final campaign

The Lindsay Park team of Ben, Will and J D Hayes will wait until acceptance time before deciding whether to start Mr Brightside at Flemington.

Mr Brightside is likely to feature among nominations for the Group 2 Kia Ora Stud Mile (1600m) on Saturday, however Ben Hayes said he was only a 50-50 chance of starting.

At his most recent outing, Mr Brightside finished last behind Pride Of Jenni in the Feehan Stakes (1600m) at Caulfield on September 27.

Mr Brightside followed that up running second in a jump-out at Flemington last Friday.

“It was an OK trial, but we’ve just got to have a good think about it and see how he is on Wednesday,” Hayes said.

“He’s come through it fine, but we’ve got to talk to the ownership group and make a decision.

“He’s 50-50 on whether he runs otherwise we will give him a break and target the autumn.”

Mr Brightside missed an autumn campaign earlier in the year following surgery to remove a bone chip and has had three runs back.

He finished second on his preferred soft ground in the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield first-up before jarring up in the Makybe Diva Stakes at Flemington.

“We thought we had him back on top at Caulfield, but unfortunately, we had to run in the Feehan as there wasn’t an upgrade of the track,” Hayes said.

“If there had been we would have scratched him, but we weren’t allowed.”

Hayes said if the decision was made to bypass Saturday, Mr Brightside would be given a break to prepare for the autumn.

He said there had been talk of retirement, something the whole team and the ownership group was not looking forward to.

“We have spoken to the group about it, and we don’t like to talk about it, but probably the autumn may likely be his last campaign,” Hayes said.

“He’s a rising 10-year-old, but the thing about him is he’s a very sound horse and if there was any inkling there was any problem with him, we would be retiring him.

“He’s a happy, sound horse, he’s a gelding, and has been lightly raced with only 51 starts throughout his whole career.

“He’s had three runs back from injury and he’s been a most special horse to us.

“We want to protect him and maybe give him another good break before we target the autumn.

“If we turn him out now, he can have a bit longer, which may be better for him, but we just want to see how he is closer to acceptance time before making a decision.”