HAYES PLANS HIS AUSSIE CURTAIN CALL
Twenty-five years after winning the Cup with Jeune, trainer David Hayes is hopeful he can sign off with another victory, writes RAY THOMAS
IN a sense, David Hayes is ending at the beginning. When Constantinople, Rostropovich and Neufbosc line up in the famous Flemington two-miler tomorrow, this will probably be the last time Hayes has a runner in the $8 million Melbourne Cup.
Hayes has accepted a training position in Hong Kong from next year and is hoping tomorrow is 1994 revisited — the year he trained his only Melbourne Cup winner with the imported stayer Jeune.
“I would like to go out with a Melbourne Cup in my last year, like I did with Jeune 25 years ago,” Hayes said.
“That’s what we are hoping to do (tomorrow) and with Constantinople, I think we have a real chance of winning the race again.”
Hayes, 57, revealed it was actually his decision to return to Hong Kong to train that indirectly led him to acquiring Constantinople, the stayer he believes can win him another Melbourne Cup tomorrow.
The trainer flew to England in late August to personally inform one of his stable’s biggest and most loyal owners, Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum, of his decision to return to Hong Kong next year.
While he was in London, Hayes decided to travel north to York for a feature race meeting that included the Great Voltigeur Stakes, a time-honoured English race for promising three-year-old stayers.
This is when Hayes noticed Constantinople and was impressed by his second to the talented Logician.
“I was looking for a cups horse and Constantinople took my eye,” Hayes said. “I just liked the length and style of him.
“The horse that beat him (Logician) then won the St Leger, so Constantinople has the right formlines.
“I just felt Constantinople was the type that could race well down here for a couple of years.”
Hayes then contacted Constantinople’s owners, Coolmore Stud, to see if the young stayer was for sale.
As they say, everything has its price and Hayes was able to negotiate the purchase of Constantinople for just under $1.5 million — but only if the trainer also spent the same amount on another Coolmore’s emerging staying talent, Cape Of Good Hope.
Hayes ended up agreeing to the $3 million deal that is now looking like a very astute investment.
Cape Of Good Hope won the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes earlier this spring and Constantinople, after an outstanding fourth in the Caulfield Cup, is challenging for favouritism for the Melbourne Cup tomorrow.
Hayes maintains the best Melbourne Cup lead-up is invariably the Caulfield Cup and maintains Constantinople’s run was the best Cup trial.
“The thing I really liked was he was the last horse to stop in the race,” Hayes said. “He was still full of running well past the finishing post and I like to see that in stayers going up in distance.
“He looks to me a horse the will revel at Flemington and in a Melbourne Cup.”
Hayes also has outsiders Rostropovich and Neufbosc in the Cup field.
Rostropovich ran fifth in the Melbourne Cup last year but has struggled to find form since, while Neufbosc hasn’t been competitive in five starts for Lindsay Park this spring.
“In fairness to Rostropovich, he has never drawn a barrier,” Hayes said.
“Every run he has had he’s been caught wide or in a bad spot. Look it is hard to tip him with confidence because he hasn’t run well but he’s very fit and he has the talent.
“Neufbosc, on his best European form, would be a chance in the Cup. We are hoping getting to 3200m at Flemington will bring out the best in him because he can stay.”
It was another imported stayer, Jeune, which gave Hayes his only Melbourne Cup win back in 1994. Hayes then left for Hong Kong the following season, where he trained successfully for a decade and was a two-time premiership winner.
Hayes returned home in 2005 with a vision to build a world-class training facility that would provide his stable with access to the nation’s major racing centres of Melbourne and Sydney.
He chose a property at Euroa where the new Lindsay Park is now established. It’s been a labour of love for the trainer and his vision has become a reality. Hayes said one of the reasons he decided to accept the Hong Kong position was to expand the Lindsay Park stable’s global reach.
“This gives us an international arm for the stable,” he explained.