New Zealand-bred gelding Evaporate will be seeking to pick up the biggest cheque of his career when he heads to Randwick on Saturday to contest the A$10 million Golden Eagle (1500m).
High stakes are nothing new for the son of Per Incanto, who placed in last year’s A$3 million Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) and was runner-up in the inaugural $3.5 million NZB Kiwi (1500m) at Ellerslie on March.
He heads into the Sydney feature in good form, having won the Gr.3 Sandown Stakes (1500m) before Transatlantic turned the tables on him and he finished runner-up to the Snitzel gelding in the Gr.1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) last month.
Trainers Ben, JD and Will Hayes have been pleased with Evaporate’s subsequent progress and they said they have him peaking for Saturday’s rich assignment.
“His run in the Toorak was excellent,” Ben Hayes told SENTrack. “He got beaten by Transatlantic, who has come out since and won well, so the form is good.
“It has been done before, the Toorak winner has won the Golden Eagle, and he has been trained to peak, this is his grand final race.
He was bred by Little Avondale Stud, home to his sire Per Incanto, and he was bought by Lindsay Park Racing for A$330,000 at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
Evaporate has drawn barrier seven on Saturday and will be ridden by Nash Rawiller.
Lindsay Park are also upbeat about the prospects of fellow Kiwi-bred War Machine in the A$3 million The Russell Balding Stakes (1300m).
The Harry Angel five-year-old won four consecutive races, including the Gr.1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m), Gr.2 Gilgai Stakes (1200m) and Gr.3 BRC Sprint (1350m), before beating just two runners home in the A$20 million The Everest (1200m) earlier this month.
Hayes said his last-start performance was better than his result indicated, and he is hoping his connections can collect a consolation prize this weekend.
“We were a tad disappointed initially with his Everest run. He just got a little crowded and ended up further back than we would have wanted, but his work through the line was very good,” he said.
“He ran very quick sectionals, he was strong through the line. The only horse that run through the line better than him was Angel Capital.
“He is in excellent order. His gallop at the farm (on Monday) was excellent. He will love the 1300m.”
Bred by MDJ Bloodstock Ltd, War Machine was offered for sale at both the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales and the Ready To Run Sale via the Wallace family’s Ardsley Stud, but failed to reach his $100,000 reserve on both occasions.
By Harry Angel out of the winning Hussonet mare Caserta, the gelding subsequently went into training with Jim Wallace and won his only trial at Foxton by six lengths before his private purchase. – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
