On a memorable afternoon for the Ben and JD Hayes stable at Moonee Valley, the talented young brother training combination didn’t set aside too much time to celebrate.
They were already planning Aysar’s redemption in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes after he prevailed by a length in the Chautauqua Stakes over 1200m, following their Feehan Stakes triumph courtesy of Mr Brightside.
Aysar made his move 100m out and comfortably saluted from there.
2022 Chautauqua Stakes Replay
The five-year-old colt ran fourth in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes last year, but JD Hayes is confident with one more year of maturity he’ll run a better race in the Group 1 feature worth $1 million on September 17.
“I think so,” Hayes told Racing.com when asked if he will start in the 1400m event at Caulfield.
“He ran fourth in this race last year. And off that map into the Rupert Clarke he ran a very credible fourth.
“He was only beaten by a length. And I dare say he’s actually in better nick this time being a year older.
“So we’ll definitely head that way.”
Hayes said Aysar had a sense that he had to rise to the occasion on Saturday, and indeed he delivered because of what was at stake.
“He is a little bit quirky – we just had to figure him out,” he said.
“He was starting to run out of chances.
“I think he knew what was on the table there – it could’ve been his manhood.
“So he really performed how he works at home. He does have a terrific motor out there and it was just good to see him put them to the sword today.”
Winning jockey Michael Dee was happy to sit slightly off the pace heading into the turn.
“We had a nice plan to be positive – if we were in front, we were in front,” he said.
“But there was a little bit more speed than what we could handle.
“So we were able to take a lovely sit and they spread out that little bit.
“I was able to just edge away off the fence and he really knuckled down.”
Like Hayes, Dee knew Aysar had no shortage of natural ability – he just had to piece it all together mentally when it mattered.
“Credit to him today. He’s obviously got a lot of talent that we all know of,” he said.
“So it’s just a matter of putting it all together on race day.
“Today, thankfully he did.”
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