Having secured their first metropolitan success at the season opening meeting at Sandown, Ben and Jd Hayes hope to claim their first stakes win at Flemington.
Lightly-raced, but stacked with ability, Mr Brightside scored his second career win on Sunday while at Flemington on Saturday Aysar steps out in the Group 3 Aurie’s Star Handicap (1200m).
A two-time winner from nine starts, Aysar ran second to Ole Kirk in the Caulfield Guineas (1600m) last spring and was also second behind Tagaloa in the C S Hayes Stakes (1400m) at Flemington last autumn.
Ben Hayes said kicking off in Saturday’s Group 3 gives the stable options for later in the spring.
“Probably the furthest we’ll go is 1400 metres and if he wins one of those Group 1’s, the Memsie (Stakes) or the Sir Rupert Clarke, we might flirt with the idea of going for the Golden Eagle,” Hayes said.
“But the idea of running in the Aurie’s Star is to see how he goes up the straight because we could keep him fresh and come back to the Group 1 sprint during Cup week.”
Hayes said Aysar was possibly the flag-bearer of the Lindsay Park stable this season and it was lucky the four-year-old son of Deep Field was still in their care.
Previously owned by Shadwell Stud, Aysar was sold to Hong Kong but the deal fell through before another was struck with Leneva Park for the entire to stand at stud when his racing days are over.
After Saturday, the plan is to head to the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on August 28 and then to the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) on September 18.
“I think he deserves his shot at those Group 1’s. He has shown that he is good enough for that sort of race,” Hayes said.
“He’s going well and importantly Jamie Kah wants to ride him.”
