If there is an omen tip for the Caulfield Guineas, then the Lindsay Park-trained Angry Skies could be that three-year-old.
Rain fell overnight on Thursday and angry skies were brewing on Friday morning ahead of the Caulfield Guineas meeting that already sees the track rated a Soft 6 while track manager Tim Bailey is predicting a Soft 7, at best, for Saturday’s meeting, if the predicted rain falls.
As first emergency in Saturday’s Group 1 contest for three-year-olds over 1600m, Angry Skies needs a scratching to make the field, and if he does, Ben Hayes, believes the three-year-old can run well.
“If he gets in, I would be quietly confident that he could run in the top half of the field,” Hayes said.
“I was a bit devastated that we didn’t get in and he was first emergency, but if the rain persists there might be a scratching.
“He’s a horse that has always shown us good ability at home and I thought his run at Sandown was very good as he was taken back a bit further than he needed to, but he hit the line well, running some of the fastest closing sectionals.
“Comparing him to Tijuana, who is in the market, they are very similar horses, but Tijuana obviously has the runs on the board and has performed.”
Angry Skies has raced only twice, for a heavy track Swan Hill maiden win before finishing fourth at Sandown on September 25 behind Guineas opponents Bank Maur, The Fortune Teller and Elliptical.
Stablemate Tijuana, on the other hand, has been aimed at the Guineas since winning the Listed Anzac Day Stakes (1400m) at Flemington in April.
He enters Saturday’s race fourth-up for the preparation and is coming off victory in the Group 2 Stutt Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley on September 23.
Tijuana holds an entry in the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) on October 22 which Ben and J D Hayes will consider if he wins well on Saturday.
One thing Hayes is not frightened of is the rain with Tijuana, although he does not want a lot.
“He’s handled the soft tracks before and the way he moves he’s at home on the ground,” Hayes said.
“Drawn out in barrier 10, it gives jockey Mark Zahra some good options of whether to go forward or look for a sit up on the speed.”