The Lindsay Park team appear to have a serious Caulfield Guineas contender on their hands after three-year-old gelding Crosshaven took out the Group 3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m) on Saturday.
It what turned out to be a very fast-run race, jockey Daniel Steakhouse chose to sit one-off the speed behind National Choice in the early goings before timing his run to perfection down the straight.
“It was good that I had National Choice in front of me, I was always confident I was going to be able to pick it up” Stackhouse told racing.com.
Crosshaven, who won the Listed Exford Plate at Flemington over the same trip a fortnight ago, was installed as a $5.50 chance in Ladbrokes’ market, but appeared to have his work cut out against the favourite Flying Award.
The Danny O’Brien colt was backed heavily before the jump in what was his second run back from a spell, only for punters to be left disappointed as the son of Shamus Award missed the start and failed to make up ground.
The Lindsay Park team will now set their sights on the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) on October 10, a race co-trainer Ben Hayes feels confident heading into.
“It was a really good efffort, because it looked to me like they really ran along there, and he was able to do it at both ends” Hayes said after the race.
“He’s a pretty nice horse, he really accelerated well and ran well there, so really exciting in two weeks time.”
Crosshaven was an $80,000 purchase and has already paid huge dividends for connections and the stable alike.
Not be outdone, fellow stablemate Aysar finished only 2.5L sixth on Saturday after making up a stack of ground late.
“It wasn’t the plan to be back last, but he missed the start and jumped slow, so Luke (Nolen) did the right thing and let him balance” Hayes went on to say.
“I was really happy with the way he was rounding off the race, he hit the line great and I think going towards a Caulfield Guineas, that’s what you want to see.”
Crosshaven remains a $21.00 chance in Ladbrokes’ Caulfield Guineas market, while Aysar can be found at $19.00
Flying Award, who failed to run a place in the end, remains at $9.00.
Ladbrokes’ All-In Caulfield Guineas market can be viewed here.