A fitter but still underdone Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) is ready to tackle his first Group One assignment of the Melbourne Spring Carnival.
The Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday is the spring opener and Mr Brightside will enter the race second-up.
He has already collected the Gr.2 P B Lawrence Stakes over Saturday’s course and distance for Ben, Will and J d Hayes, but success on Saturday will further add to his impressive record.
Ben Hayes said Mr Brightside came through his first-up win in great order in a race that was run strongly and was a little over a half-second outside the course record.
“He ate up after that win, didn’t turn a hair and has been great all the way through,” Hayes said.
“It was a hard run race, but he seems bright and well and is ready for the run and he hasn’t shown any signs that the run affected him.
“And if you look at his program it’s generally two weeks, two weeks, two weeks and that is when he generally runs best.”
With a long spring ahead which could include the Gr.1 King Charles III Stakes (1600m) at Randwick and the Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley, Hayes said Mr Brightside was far from being wound-up ahead of his first-up assignment.
“He wasn’t wound up to win first-up and if you look at him, he’s still got improvement to come,” Hayes said.
“He’s still a bit woolly in the coat and that’s the exciting thing about it.
“If he takes natural improvement from it into the Memsie, he should be hard to beat, but it is a good field with I Wish I Win, Alligator Blood, they’ve all raced each other before.”
I Wish I Win (NZ) (Savabeel), in barrier one, heads the early betting at $3.80 from Mr Brightside (gate 15) at $4 and Alligator Blood (All Too Hard) (14) at $5.50.
Hayes is not overly concerned by the draw.
“We did win a Doncaster from barrier 18, so I have seen stranger things happen,” Hayes said.
“He’s got lots of confidence, so we’re just going to have to hope for a bit of racing luck, but it has made the race very interesting.
“I would probably say they have all drawn hard gates so it will be a real interesting watch.”
