The conditions of the track and the race distance are expected to align perfectly with Ndola’s strengths for his upcoming challenge in The Meteorite.
The training team at Lindsay Park is confident in one of their current in-form horses to capture a lucrative million-dollar race scheduled for Cranbourne this Saturday.
Next weekend, metropolitan racing will be conducted away from its usual city locations, with Cranbourne set to host the Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m) and the first of two slot races organised by Southside Racing.
The Meteorite, a 1200-metre event, is the first of these feature races, with The Supernova (1400m) to follow at Pakenham on December 13.
Coming off a recent victory in the Group 3 Rising Fast Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on October 31, and a prior win in the Apache Cat Classic (1200m) at Cranbourne three weeks earlier, Ndola is performing at a level that has Ben Hayes enthusiastic about his chances.
“We’re really happy with him and we have got him on our slot,” Hayes said.
“He’s arguably in career best form and the track and trip is no issue especially two starts back.”
Ndola’s consistency is notable, having recorded a Racing and Sports rating of 114 in each of his last three starts.
The stable identifies Ndola primarily as a sprinter, and the 1200m distance of The Meteorite is considered his ideal range, rather than the 1400m at Pakenham later in the season.
“1400 sorts him out, unfortunately,” Hayes added.
“We thought early days that he would get out in trip but he is doing a good job over 1200-metres considering he has got bad wind. He’s a good sprinter.”
The Hayes stable also plans to run Arkansaw Kid in The Meteorite, aiming to improve on his second-place finish in the 2025 running to Jigsaw, who was the winner twelve months prior.
“He’s won over $2 million and is a multiple group two winner and group one placed and he ran inro a horse who went on to string a number of wins in-a-row.
“Jigsaw won’t be there and I thought his last run was good.”
As the main spring carnival events conclude and attention shifts to other racing venues, Ben expressed satisfaction with the team’s spring campaign performance.
“We were a bit slow at the start and didn’t start as well as we wanted but we were happy with it,” he commented.
“Four (wins) is nearly the best we’ve done as a partnership and a couple of good winners in Sydney through Cup week, so we are happy but would like to improve.”
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