Grandson’s new stud on Lindsay Park recalls heady days of Colin Hayes
Nearly fifty years ago when I was compiling thoroughbred breeding reviews for the since Land newspaper absorbed New South Wales Country Life, a weekly stud stock journal, I gave Adelaide bloodstock sales dynamo David Coles a hand in promoting the annual South Australian yearling sales.
On my first visit to South Australia, David, like myself now in his eighties and still involved in the industry, took me out to the revolutionary new racing and breeding complex at Angaston in the heart of the Barossa grape country established under the banner of Lindsay Park by an astute former boilermaker and amateur jockey turned horse trainer, Colin Hayes.
I refer to it as the new Lindsay Park as it continued under the same name as bestowed on it by the pioneer Angas family, the one which gave its name to Angaston back in the 1850s. Nearly a hundred years later, J. Keith Angas stood an England bred unraced stallion, Copperplate, whose grandam Noor Jahan was out of the historic broodmare Plucky Liege, on Lindsay Park.
After lunching with the Hayes family, including two young Hayes lads, Peter, later tragically killed in an aeroplane accident, and David, now like his late father in the trainer’s section of the Hall of Fame, in the fine old 38-room colonial mansion on my debut visit to Lindsay Park, Colin took me on a tour of the stud and training operation.
It is a visit that protrudes in the forefront of my fading memory box for I left the environs of the new operation with the view that, as far a training was concerned, the principle was an object lesson for the racing industry. Open stabling providing horse socialising, interesting walks to the training course, one with an uphill run from the starting stalls, and an innovating equine swimming pool aided in the preparation of fit, happy horses.
The Colin Hayes development became so successful that in the three decades from1970 until his death in May 1999 he gained recognition as the world’s leading trainer, at least numerically, and who, besides his Hall of Fame induction, was honoured with the AM and OBE.
Colin is credited with preparing 5,333 winners, including 524 successful in stakes and on one occasion being responsible for 10 winners in the one day. He was Adelaide’s leading trainer 28 times and headed the Melbourne list on13 occasions.
His visits to the winners’ stalls included appearances in most of the big races around Australia, headed by the VRC Melbourne Cup (twice), Australian Cup (two), Newmarket (four), MRC Caulfield Cup (one), MVRC Cox Plate (three), AJC Derby (two), STC Golden Slipper (one) and Adelaide Cup (four).
Many of the good horses that he trained were by sires that made the Lindsay Park name a byword as a breeding farm as well as a training centre of excellence. One of Colin’s biggest thrills in the early in the life of Lindsay Park was the producing and training of Clear Prince, the third placegetter at three in the 1970 Melbourne Cup.
One of Lindsay Park’s first Classic winners, taking out the South Australian Derby, Clear Prince was from the first crop of Ruantallan (GB) (Ribot – Tarbert Bay, by Persian Gulf), a high class English performer up to two miles who was one of two good European stayers Colin Hayes chose as early sires for the new stud.
The other was Atilla (GB) (Alcide – Festoon, by Fair Trial), a good winner in England, Germany and Italy. One of his early runners was Altai Khan, a winner of nine races, including the AJC Metropolitan and QTC Metropolitan. He finished third in the VRC Victoria Derby and STC Rosehill Guineas.
It was two brilliant imports, however, who established Lindsay Park as one of Australia’s most formidable studs. They were Romantic (GB) (Princely Gift – Big Romance, by Big Game), one of England’s best juveniles of his year, and Without Fear (FR) (Baldric 11 – Never too Late, by Never Say Die), the unbeaten second best French 2-year-old of 1969.
One of the first Hayes imports, Romantic included among his best runners Prince Romantic (11 wins included MRC Futurity-Gr.1; second MRC Oakleigh Plate-Gr.1), Romantic Son (a massive 29 wins headed by the SAJC Goodwood Handicap-Gr.1), Fondness (won South Australian Oaks-Gr.1), Love Aloft (won VRC A.V Kewney Stakes-Gr.2, VRC Wakeful Stakes-Gr.2; second MRC Futurity Stakes-Gr.1, Thousand Guineas-Gr.1) and Make Mine Roses (won VRC Lightning Stakes-Gr.1).
Without Fear’s world juvenile sire record
Seven years younger than Romantic, Without Fear stirred the nation in 1975-76 when he established what was considered to be a new world record for the most number of 2-year-old winners in a year by a first crop sire, being represented by 30 winners of 48 races.
Australia’s champion juvenile sire that year, he included in the runners Desirable, head of the Free Handicap, Truly Brave, equal seventh best, and Unaware, two wins Melbourne.
Hayes enjoyed the triumph that year of training two Lindsay Park products who filled the first two places in the Blue Diamond-Gr.1 at Caulfield. Both fillies, they were the winner Out of Danger (by Atilla; third highweight on the Free Handicap) and Desirable.
Also third in the Golden Slipper, Desirable went onto be a leading sprinter at three, her efforts including a win in the VRC Newmarket and a second in the VRC Lightning.
Unaware also shone for Hayes at three, winning six races, including the Victoria Derby after being second in the Cox Plate. He went on to be second in the Caulfield Cup and fifth in Melbourne Cup at four.
Two of his most important successes a trainer were his Melbourne Cup victories with the imported proven gallopers Beldale Ball (USA) (by the Nasrullah sire Nashua)1980 and At Talaq (USA) (by Roberto) 1986. Both prepared on Lindsay Park and raced here before their tilts at the Cup, they belonged to international owners Robert Sangster (Beldale Ball) and Dubai’s Sheikh Hamdan Maktoum (At Talaq).
Maktoum also won the 1994 Melbourne Cup with another import prepared on Lindsay Park, Jeune (GB) (by Kalaglow), but he was trained by David Hayes. Both Jeune and At Talaq became good sires from use at the Hayes studs, including Lindsay Park.
The rapport Colin Hayes achieved with Robert Sangster and Hamdan Maktoum opened up the eyes of the world to the quality of Australian breeding and racing. It probably played a big role in the emergence of the dual hemisphere system of sire use and the establishment here of conglomerates by world giants Coolmore and Darley.
Sangster, owner for a time with the Hayes family of the Collingrove studs at Sandy Hollow, Hunter Valley, New South Wales and Nagambie,Victoria, was instrumental in the emergence of Coolmore in Ireland and Hamdan is the brother of Sheikh Mohammed Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai and the head of Darley empire.
Lindsay Park has continued to stand stallions, breed and train many winners in the decade that has followed the death of Colin Hayes, but the complex has taken on a new image in 2011. This follows the development by David Hayes, a champion trainer in Melbourne, Adelaide and Hong Kong, of a substantial world class training centre near Euroa under the banner of Lindsay Park Victoria and the establishment of new major stud under the name of Cornerstone on Lindsay Park in South Australia by his nephew Sam Hayes.
The new training operation at Euroa is predicted to quickly attain a reputation to rival that of Lindsay Park in its heyday. It will handle more than a hundred horses in work and has among facilities a number of training tracks, grass and Pro-Ride artificial surfaces.
Three of the Hayes family, Colin and his sons David and Peter, have trained major winners and overseen the breeding of good horses on Lindsay Park. David has mentored 35 Group1 winners, including performers successful in the Melbourne Cup, Cox Plate, Caulfield Cup, Victoria Derby and Japan Cup (Better Loosen Up), while, in a brief tenure at Lindsay Park, Peter conditioned the1999 Victoria Derby winner Blackfriars and VRC Newmarket and Lightning Stakes heroine Isca for Robert Sangster and also prepared winners of the Adelaide Cup, SAJC Australasian Oaks, MRC Thousand Guineas and AJC The Galaxy.
Peter led the South Australian trainers’ premiership eight times and headed the Melbourne list on three occasions.
Cornerstone geared to start at the top
Although the glory days of the Hayes family as trainers on Lindsay Park, South Australia are over, a choice portion of the farm under the direction of Peter’s son Sam could be on the threshold of an era as a breeding operation to rival the heady days of its founder.
Three years ago, Sam Hayes in partnership with Darren Thomas, CEO and owner with his father of T & R Pastoral, one of Australia’s premier livestock handlers and slaughtering operations, acquired the stud’s breeding and stallions rights, leased 400 acres of Lindsay Park breeding country and threw open gates for sire use and resident and visiting mares.
This has been the forerunner for the emergence on Lindsay Park this year of a major stallion base and breeding farm of national significance with the new image under the banner of Cornerstone stud. “It is exciting to be creating our own identity, Cornerstone, with a vision to be a respected leader in the global thoroughbred industry, just as Lindsay Park was for CS (Colin Hayes),” Sam Hayes, the manager director, said.
Like the Colin Hayes initiatives for the stud operation on Lindsay Park, the Cornerstone plan revolves around sires with appeal to mare owners around Australia, that encourage local breeders to upgrade their mares and to attract new breeders into the industry.
Cornerstone is geared to start at the top, opening up with a very experienced professional management team, headed by Sam Hayes, David Burke (stud manager), Greg Thomas (administrator) and Dean Elliott (marketing and nominations manager), seven well credentialed sires,150 resident mares and a strong outside client base.
They pulled off a coup this year when they secured one of the best Mr. Prospector sires, Hussonet (USA), from the Arrowfield stud, Hunter Valley. From use in Chile (Champion Sire seven times, Leading Juvenile Sire on five occasions) and then Australia (first runners 2006-07), Hussonet has supplied at least 574 winners (successful 19 countries) of 1690 races and $38.7million. Among 75 stakes winners have been 28 successful in Group1 races, including the Australian products Weekend Hussler (Horse of the Year), Reaan (a leading 2-year-old), Gold Trail (international sprinter) and Eagle Falls (a leading Melbourne sprinter).
Hussonet (fee $25,000) at 20 is a veteran sire, but like his sire Mr. Prospector, one who got Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus from a service when he was 26, he could be capable of supplying many more good gallopers. Breeding fillies by him could be the path to future good broodmares.
One of the sires Hussonet is standing with at Cornerstone is his brilliant son Reaan (fee $9,900), the David Hayes conquerer of All American (second) in the 2008 Blue Diamond-Gr.1 at his fourth start. It followed on a debut win at Bendigo (1.5 lengths), a close second in the Maribyrnong Plate-Gr.2 at Flemington and a smashing five lengths win in the Blue Diamond Prevue-LR.
Out of Ribe, a Danehill Moonee Valley Oaks winner, Reaan ran on four more occasions and was then put to stud in 2009, looking after 60 mares. His first crop are 2011-12 yearlings.
He is one of three talented Australians at Cornerstone yet to have runners, sharing this distinction with De Beers (Quest for Fame (GB) – Chimeara, by Danehill (USA) (fee $4,950) and Shrewd Rhythm (Danehill Dancer (IRE) – Balcanny, by Canny Lad) (fee $6,050).
Oldest 2011-12 2-year-olds, De Beers is a Rosehill Guineas-Gr.1 winner, a Randwick 2-year-old winner and a runner up in the AJC Australian Derby-Gr.1, STC Hobartville Stakes-Gr.2 (beaten a neck by Racing to Win) and the NSW Tattersall’s Roman Consul Stakes-Gr.2 (dead-heat with Stratum).
Retired to stud last year, Shrewd Rhythm, like Reaan was a Blue Diamond star, his four appearances at two resulting in wins at Caulfield in the first two, the second in the Blue Diamond Prelude-Gr.3 (Zizou second), and big race thirds on the same track, the Blue Diamond-Gr.1 and $350,000 Inglis Premier Stakes.
The David Hayes trained Shrewd Rhythm added to his reputation with two good efforts at Caulfield as an early 3-year-old, a first up win in the Vain Stakes-LR (defeating Purrealist and Murtajill) and a third in the Guineas Prelude-Gr.3. He later followed a1.25 lengths win in an All Victorian Sprint Series Heat at Moonee Valley with a second in the $150,000 Final of the series at Flemington.
Three established sires who have stood earlier careers on Lindsay Park make up the Cornerstone complement. They are local products Barely A Moment (fee $12,100), a triple Group1 winner to1600m by the earlier shuttled American champion 2-year-old Gilded Time and from the Danehill mare Lady Danna, and Face Value (available on modest cost), a Red Ransom (USA) Group 3 sprint winner and Caulfield Guineas-Gr.1 second from the smart Freckled Face, and the current shuttling Good Journey (USA) (fee $13,200), a North American Group1 winner (turf) and Breeders’ Cup Mile (turf) third from the same family as Redoute’s Choice.
By Brian Russell
