The advantage of straight-course practice has been evident, with fillies from Lindsay Park taking out the top two spots at Flemington.
Ben, Will and J D Hayes’s Gin Twist and La Gitana grabbed the quinella in the Listed TAB We’re On (1000m) last Saturday, having shared an 800m jump-out on Flemington’s straight on February 20.
Ben Hayes commented that the trial was vital, unlike for the third Lindsay Park entry Jacaranda ($3.20 favourite), who missed it and finished fifth.
Luke Currie aboard Gin Twist ($3.50) guided her to a 1-¾ length success ahead of La Gitana ($5), as The Troubleshooter ($17) was 2-¾ lengths further adrift in third.
“Two-year-olds are very hard,” Hayes said.
“They either get it wrong, which we saw with Jacaranda, who dropped the bit early and didn’t look comfortable, they don’t know how to get into a rhythm, whereas the other two were professional, they jumped, got into a rhythm and gave good kicks.
“It’s a bit of a guessing game when you’re running them and I say that to the owners, they either handle it or they won’t.
“We say don’t worry about that as they will improve out of sight. Having a look and seeing how they handle it is very important.”
Hayes disclosed pressure applied by Tom Magnier of Coolmore Australia for his fillies to achieve a one-two-three.
In the midst of yearling sales season, Magnier was pushing for success from Home Affairs, sire to the three two-year-olds.
“We had a bit of pressure on us,” Hayes said.
“Tom said to us, if we didn’t get the trifecta with the Home Affairs fillies, we would be in trouble.
“Sorry Tom, we only got the quinella, hopefully that’s OK.
“It was an impressive win. I got a bit worried as she got a bit hot in the mounting yard and got a bit worked up, but she jumped, she looked like she was comfortable the whole race and went to the line quite easily.”
The stable intends to deliberate Gin Twist’s future assignments, not excluding a journey to Sydney targeting the Golden Slipper at Rosehill next month.
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