One last Cup bid as Hayes plans future

DAVID Hayes casts his eyes across what he calls the family’s $24 million succession plan — the magnificent property just outside Euroa in Victoria — and knows his late father Colin would approve of Lindsay Park’s future direction.

It’s tranquil in the specially constructed trainers’ lookout with a panoramic view of the custom-made track and the picturesque property as the sound of pounding hoofs breaks the morning silence.

On this morning, Hayes and his training partners — his eldest son Ben and his nephew Tom Dabernig — monitor their stable stars as they gear up for David’s last crack at winning a second Melbourne Cup — 25 years since his first with Jeune.

He’s not retiring – far from it. At 57, Hayes says careerwise, he has “just turned into the [Flemington] straight”.

But he and his wife Prue will move to Hong Kong late next year where he will train for a second time. The last time Hayes went, in 1996, he had “four kids under five” — now some of those adult children plus the experienced Tom will be in charge of Lindsay Park’s Australian business.

It’s all part of David’s carefully moulded succession strategy which will also include his two other sons — JD and Will — and ultimately join the Lindsay Park training partnership in coming years.

“I spent $24 million on the facilities on this property and I wouldn’t have spent anywhere near that if I didn’t have a succession plan,” Hayes said.

It’s been two decades since Colin Hayes, the patriarch of one of Australian racing’s most famous families, passed away.

He built a racing empire off the back of hard work, training nous and using a phrase not dissimilar to the one that Malcolm X was famous for.

“The future belongs to those who plan for it — it’s a nice phrase, isn’t it,” David Hayes said. “Dad built the business on that. For me, it has been great to build this [Euroa] facility and to have a succession plan that has been four years in the making because I will enjoy watching the boys use it for many, many years to come.”

mian Lane, tactics-wise.”

Lane has won three times on Mer De Glace including twice in Japanthis year.

He’s been on fire in the big races this year, so much so that if he wins the Melbourne Cup tomorrow he’d complete a year ‘Grand Slam’ after already winning the Golden Slipper (Kiamichi), Caulfield Cup (Mer De Glace) and Cox Plate (Lys Gracieux).

No jockey has ever achieved the feat so it’s understandable why Shimizu smiled when asked about having Lane on his team once again.

“He understands the horse very well and he knows Flemington Racecourse inside and out so it’s very important to have him,” Shimizu said.

“Damian Lane’s won a Group 3 in his very first week in Japan and he’s been a great jockey for Mer De Glace.”

Shimizu said he was feeling the expectations of having a Melbourne Cup favourite and knows in the back of his mind that the Japanese will be glued to TV screens back home when the gates open tomorrow.

The expectations have grown with each win and if Mer De Glace scores again it will be his seventh-straight victory which will be some story for a once immature horse who only won once in his first nine starts.

“I’m not the biggest trainer in Japan but I’m lucky to have this horse,” Shimizu said.

And if the five-year-old wins?

“I like a drink, so I’ll be having a few,” he said.