Mr Brightside’s (NZ) (Bullbars) three-race winning sequence ended in Sunday’s Gr.1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) at Sandown, but co-trainer Ben Hayes wasn’t dwelling on the rare defeat afterwards.
“They all have to lose some time, they can’t always keep winning,” said Hayes, who trains in partnership with his brother JD.
Ridden by Craig Williams, last season’s Gr.1 Doncaster Mile (1600m) winner Mr Brightside settled fourth and couldn’t improve on that position at the finish, left flat-footed by Alligator Blood (All Too Hard) upon straightening to run fifth, beaten by 2.8 lengths.
“He’s had two quite easy runs this preparation (winning the Lawrence and Memsie Stakes) and that’s his first real strongly run race and probably just sorted him out,” Hayes said.
“I still think he went to the line fine. They are the best in the country bar Anamoe (Street Boss) and he was only beaten just over two lengths.
“They are much more seasoned then him, so he’ll take improvement and I wouldn’t be changing plans with him at all.”
Hayes indicated that Mr Brightside will contest the Gr.1 Might And Power Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield on October 8, formerly known as the Caulfield Stakes, ahead of the Gr.1 Cox Plate (2040m) two weeks later.
“We’ve never put headgear on him, so we’ve got options to play with ahead of the Cox Plate,” Hayes said.
“Whilst it was disappointing we didn’t finish top-three, Alligator Blood was the fit horse who had raced all the way through the year and they smartly used that to their advantage.”
The Kiwi import was originally trained by Ralph Manning in Cambridge, for whom he ran a luckless fifth in his sole New Zealand start at Matamata before being sold privately to clients of the Hayes stable via Australian agent Wayne Ormond.
Manning and good friends Shaun Dromgool and Ray Johnson purchased Mr Brightside as an unraced two-year-old off gavelhouse.com for just $7,750, with some insight into the youngster.
Johnson, with his late wife Martha, had bred and sold the son of Bullbars as a yearling at the 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock May Sale for $22,000 via Janine Dunlop’s Phoenix Park before he had failed to meet his $50,000 reserve when re-offered at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale.
Later an opportunity arose to buy him back off gavelhouse.com and despite being aware the horse had a few tricks, Johnson jumped at the opportunity to buy back in.
