It was double delight for Lindsay Park Racing at Flemington on Saturday afternoon as Dark Dream and Nicolini Vito saluted in fine style for the Euroa-based stable.
Continuing what has been a bright start to 2022 for the Hayes brothers Ben and JD, the brothers have come on leaps and bounds since officially beginning their partnership prior to last year’s spring carnival and are now nicely placed with some excellent prospects leading into the autumn season.
A Group One winner, Dark Dream broke through for his first win as part of the Lindsay Park stable, proving too good for the eight-horse field in the 1700m California Memory Living Legends Plate.
Seen as one of the major threats to $2.50 favourite Somerset Maugham, the seven-year-old settled at the back of the field before peeling to the outside at the top of the straight.
Finding clear air in the run to the finish, jockey Luke Nolen timed his run beautifully, taking the lead with 200m to go and hitting the line with pace to hold off the fast-finishing Somerset Maugham.
Speaking post-race, Lindsay Park lead trainer Ben Hayes said this performance served as great reward after a recent run of strong form.
“It was really satisfying (to see him win), he’s been knocking on the door his last four starts and we have only been beaten by really small margins,” Hayes said.
“We were backing him up, dropping him in trip and I just loved the way he relaxed and finished off, it was good to see him get some confidence and win easy with his ears pricked and we think he can really improve.”
Nicolini Vito continued his golden run in the $75,000 VRC Event Staff Handicap, as the four-year-old enjoyed a stunning late kick to burst past the leaders and claim a 1.75-length victory.
Coming into the 1400m race a $6 favourite after closing out 2021 with strong performances at Sandown (first), Moonee Valley (second) and Pakenham (third), the Lindsay Park-trained gelding was always going to be an interesting watch for punters in what shaped as an open 16-horse field.
Jumping fairly from barrier seven, jockey Josh Richards waited patiently for an opening after settling in the middle of the field.
Hitting the final 300m well behind the leaders and seemingly out of contention, Nicolini Vito would remarkably find a second wind as he found a gap, kicked on and rushed past the leaders in what seemed like a blink of an eye.
Hayes said the stable was ecstatic with Nicolini Vito’s improvement through this preparation.
“This preparation he has been racing well and it is just starting to click,” he said.
“The important thing is he is starting to relax in his races, at the start we could only do sprint trips because he was going too hard, if he keeps these racing manners, I think we could get him to a mile and 2000m and he could be a very good horse.”
The success at Flemington capped a successful week off the track on the Gold Coast at the Magic Millions yearling sales.
Exceeding their initial expectations on the purchasing front, Hayes said he could not be more thrilled with how the week panned out.
“We did really well and are really happy with our result, we were hoping to get 10-plus horses at this sale and we ended up buying 13 and were given a couple of others as well from some nice loyal clients,” he said.
“We have been very sensible, I think we have bought very well and under the sale average at around the $200,000 mark and I think we have pretty well sold them all down, overall we are very happy and have a great team supporting me.”