David Hayes has been facing the media at every turn with regards to his champion Ka Ying Rising.
Thankfully, it is the trainer and not the horse who has to absorb all of the pressure that comes with having a blazing hot favourite in a $20 million race … who has to deal all of the nonsense that comes with a social media frenzy doubting Ka Ying Rising’s well-being which was nothing more than foolish fabrication … who has to take all of the phone calls … all of this, while having to stay absolutely focussed on managing Ka Ying’s progress and bringing him to boiling point when the gates flash open at Randwick on Saturday.
Whether Hayes is used to it or not, you would have to think it is quite exhausting.
Clearly, with the spotlight following David Hayes and Ka Ying Rising around, other stables have been able to enjoy the fanfare from a distance, away from the media scrum … not least that of Ben, Will and JD Hayes who have quietly gone about preparing their own quality The Everest contender War Machine, who has flown pretty much under the radar.
And, if Ka Ying Rising does blink, as unlikely as that seems, Ben, Will and JD are not without a chance of making a statement of their own.
War Machine is unbeaten since joining the Hayes training partnership.
A BM100 win at Caulfield was just a kick-off point for War Machine who then went on to win the Group 3 BRC Sprint before stepping up to salute again in his first start at the elite level when taking out the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap.
The son of Harry Angel was then given close to a four-month break from race action. When he returned, he continued from where he had left off, winning the Group 2 Gilgai Stakes in emphatic fashion.
That’s pretty impressive and you would have to think that there will be more to come from this lightly raced five-year-old whose current overall record stands at seven wins from fourteen starts. Whether he shows any of that on Saturday against the best of opposition remains to be seen.
In terms of pure statistics, War Machine does have that winning form to recommend his chances. He also has won two out of four starts second-up. He jumps from barrier four and will have Tim Clark, who guided War Machine to that Stradbroke success, in the saddle.
