Lindsay Park has turned back the clock in their bid to win a feature handicap during the Brisbane Winter Carnival by joining forces with Regan Bayliss.
Bayliss will ride the Ben, Will and J D Hayes-trained Here To Shock in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
Lindsay Park and Bayliss teamed for three Group 1 victories in 2017 and 2018 with Redkirk Warrior winning two Newmarket Handicaps and a Lightning Stakes down the straight at Flemington.
Shortly after, Bayliss headed to Hong Kong for a stint and after returning to Melbourne when his sojourn finished, he moved to Sydney where he is currently based.
Bayliss has ridden a further three Group 1 victories in Sydney.
A quarter of Bayliss’ 528 victories to date were for Lindsay Park when David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig were at the helm.
In the years since moving to Sydney and with the Hayes brothers taking over the reins at Lindsay Park, Bayliss has only had two rides in Sydney for them, finishing out of the money on both occasions, the most recent being at Scone last month.
But Here To Shock enters the 2024 Stradbroke Handicap in top form, winning two of his four starts for the campaign.
A winner of nine of his 29 starts, Here To Shock won the Group 3 Victoria Handicap (1400m) at Caulfield on April 6 while at his most recent outing he captured the Group 3 BRC Sprint (1350m) at Doomben on May 25.
Ben Hayes said the gelding has trained on brilliantly since that victory.
“We’re very happy with him. He’s been training well. He’s done everything right,” Hayes said.
“He’s well-weighted and he’s drawn a good gate.
“He’s three weeks into the race and it has been a long-range plan for us to get him there.
“He’s a horse in form and he’ll run well.”
Here To Shock drew gate one in the barrier draw that was conducted on Tuesday evening and is currently a $19 chance in betting.
In an open market, the James Cummings-trained Vilana is the current top elect at $5.50 ahead of Antino ($7.50) and Amenable ($9).
