The Ben and JD Hayes stable continued its excellent record in this season’s two-year-old events, taking out the maiden over 1433m at Werribee on Sunday with debutant Rise At Dawn (NZ) (Almanzor).
Sent out the favourite, Rise At Dawn settled off the pace and while he looked under pressure approaching the home turn, he let down well in the home straight to reel in the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Labarna, coming away over the concluding stages to score by over three lengths.
The win was also a meaningful one for expat kiwi jockey Daniel Stackhouse in his ongoing battle with John Allen to be crowned Victoria’s champion jockey for this season.
“He just felt like he was really green and sort of resenting where he was and was just not sure how to travel in behind those other horses, so I sort of had to get on my bike a little bit earlier,” Stackhouse said post-race.
“I saw Gai’s horse (Labarna) sneaking away off on the corner, they’re always hard to chase down. Once I got out there, got out into some clear running, was able to get through my gears, he hit the line very nice.
“He’s still very green and raw and pretty immature, so he’s still got a lot of growing up to do.”
Despite his inexperience, Stackhouse suggested that the son of Almanzor does have a bright future ahead of him.
“He was having a good little stargaze the whole way up the straight, so it feels like there’s good improvement to come and once the penny drops, he should be a really nice horse,” he said.