The Hayes brothers from Lindsay Park maintained their grip on the premier event of Bendigo’s Golden Mile lineup on Saturday by introducing Marffiano to claim the VOBIS Gold Rush.
Half-related to Tycoon Star, Marffiano delivered a Lindsay Park quinella result by edging out Resonant in the two-year-old race boasting $250,000 prizemoney and $30,000 VOBIS extras.
It represented the Hayes trio’s – Ben, Will and JD – third successive VOBIS Gold Rush conquest, after Killiana’s success last year and Bold Bastille in 2024.
Sired by exciting freshman Home Affairs, Marffiano went for $475,000 at the prior Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, with Ben Hayes elated at the colt’s authoritative first-up display.
“Just before the race we were saying how he’s quite a laid-back customer – a bit like his older brother, he can be a bit lazy in trackwork sometimes as well – hence the winkers were on,” Hayes said.
“He’ll come out one morning and do his work well and then, next time, it’ll feel like you’d never taught him do anything and he’ll get it all completely wrong.
So, the owners have been through ups and downs through the whole preparation but to come out and win a big VOBIS race like this is just a big thrill and well done to the whole team.”
Contrary to Hayes’ pre-start reservations, Marffiano ($9) conducted himself perfectly at Bendigo, jumping well and sitting handy to the leaders before hitting the front near the 150m mark and withstanding Resonant’s ($19) closing surge for a narrow half-length win.
Running Rich ($11), the pacemaker, ran on stoutly for third, beaten an additional 1-1/4 lengths.
Declan Bates rode Marffiano first time out and was taken by his professionalism.
“He made my life pretty easy, to be honest,” Bates said.
“He was a real, gentleman. He done everything right – he began nice, the speed was nice, we were able to just camp off it and I just liked that the further we went in the race, the better he went underneath me.”
Hayes mentioned that despite the strong initiation, he and his brothers intend to likely spell Marffiano rather than press on, targeting prominent three-year-old sprint assignments in the spring.
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