Evaporate set for Caulfield debut

The Lindsay Park stable of Ben, Will and J D Hayes will get a better understanding of their latest debutant after he races at Caulfield.

Evaporate faces six opponents at his first start when he heads to the Group 3 Chairman’s Stakes (1100m) on Saturday.

The son of Per Incanto, who sired last year’s Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Little Brose, has not been ruled out of a start in that race, but first the Lindsay Park team wants to see how the colt performs on Saturday.

But long term the stable has a high opinion of Evaporate, saying he will get better with age and experience.

“He’s a big strong colt,” J D Hayes said.

“He’s come through our education process and has trialled up well and has earned his place, but I think he will be better three-year-old.

“We’ll get him through Saturday first to see how far we press on with him. It will be a lovely bit of education for him to have a day at the races.

“We love Per Incanto. I wouldn’t say he’s under-rated, but you couldn’t buy one in New Zealand anymore as they were making nice money.”

Evaporate is one of 81 two-year-olds that remain in contention for a start in this year’s Blue Diamond.

With the exception of Express Yo’self, Evaporate’s five remaining opponents all remain in contention for the Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on February 24.

Lindsay Park also hopes to get Bold Bastille to the Blue Diamond.

An impressive winner at Moonee Valley on debut in October, Bold Bastille was being set for the Blue Diamond Series, but her campaign was interrupted with a bad blood count.

Hayes said the filly would have a jump-out at Flemington on Friday after which a decision would be made on whether to press on to the Blue Diamond.

“She has plenty of quality and her form has been franked, so I’m looking forward to seeing her trial on Friday and we’ll decide on her after that,” Hayes said.

“She had a bit of a high white cell count, so we did the right thing by her and backed off because if we pushed her through, we probably would have lost her for the whole autumn.”