Will Hayes believes Stealth Of Night has the scope to rise above benchmark level, but for the moment the focus is firmly on maximising her current opportunities.
The daughter of Night Of Thunder is set to contest the $130,000 Benchmark 74 over 1400 metres on Saturday’s Flemington program.
Racing in the colours of Trilogy Racing, the mare is chasing a hat-trick of victories after back-to-back Benchmark 70 wins at Sandown in December, and Hayes, who trains alongside brothers Ben and JD, is keen to see her progression continue.
“She’s a very exciting mare, she’s obviously had quite an intensive injury history previous to this preparation and it’s just taken time to get it back to where she needs to be,” Hayes said.
“She’s been very tough the way that she’s won at Sandown, doing all the work from wide gates and then lifting herself off the canvas and putting them away.
“The way that she’s been winning in the benchmark races suggests he has a very good ability to progress.”
Her latest Sandown success under Craig Williams lifted Stealth Of Night’s rating to 78, meaning she will carry 60kg on Saturday, although Hayes said the stable is considering utilising the 3kg claim of in-form apprentice Jackson Radley.
Stealth Of Night’s only other run this campaign resulted in a narrow first-up second at Cranbourne on Cup Day, while earlier in 2025 she recorded two wins at Pakenham during the autumn.
Those performances followed a 15-month layoff after her debut run, where she finished second in a Geelong maiden in December 2023, and Hayes said continuity has been the key to her recent improvement.
Markets are open with leading Australian betting sites for Saturday’s Flemington Benchmark 74, giving punters plenty of options ahead of the feature.
“Because she missed so much of her racing life being injured, we did go the conservative approach, to build her through the grades, but she has good ability and now she’s really coping with every challenge we give her,” he said.
The post Flemington next for Stealth Of Night first appeared on Just Horse Racing.
