Oh baby! Four at Flemington for Lindsay Park
Doubters of the old saying ‘babies bring good luck’ might be forced to rethink their position after Lindsay Park dominated Saturday’s nine-race card at Flemington.
Brothers Ben, Will and JD Hayes celebrated their first metropolitan four-timer as a training team.
It came six days after Will Hayes celebrated the arrival of his first child, Oliver David Hayes, with partner Coco Webster.
With Will adjusting to family life and JD playing football for Euroa, eldest brother Ben was in charge at Flemington and said the quartet of wins capped a memorable week for the family.
“It’s a big achievement for Lindsay Park, it’s the first time we’ve had a metro four-timer, so we’re very happy and it’s a big thrill,” Ben said.
“I know Will will be at home super excited and JD would have finished his footy game and he would have been having a bit of fun flicking through seeing all the results.
“Will, JD and I are proud of the whole team.”
The tone for the day was set in the opening event when Sneaky Sunrise, a two-year-old daughter of The Autumn Sun who started $3.60 betting app favourite, made it back-to-back Flemington wins under Daniel Stackhouse in the Ken Cox Handicap (1420m).
The Hayes boys had to settle for a third placing with longshot Port Guillaume in Race 2, didn’t have a runner in Race 3, missed the mark with Frumos in Race 4 but then saw Crosshaven ($17) break a lengthy run of outs in the Country Achiever Shane Fliedner (1100m) that was Race 5.
The victory, which was overseen by Luke Currie, was the six-year-old’s first win since the Group 3 Heffernan Stakes at Caulfield on 26 November 2022, which is his only other win since the Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) on Derby Day 2020.
Lindsay Park had Race 6 off then won back-to-back races with Le Ferrari and Aztec State.
Le Ferrari ($6.50) made it two city wins from his past three starts with a tenacious win under Ben Allen in the CRC/CRV Trophy, while the Michael Dee-ridden Aztec State ($7) was too strong for his three-year-old rivals in the Brian Beattie Handicap.
The Hayes family is looking forward to further putting the baby adage to the test again next month with JD Hayes and his partner Brit Hussey expecting their first child.
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