Following the departure of David Hayes to Hong Kong and Tom Dabernig branching out on his own, Lindsay Park is going through a rebuilding phase.
But the stable still has four entries in both the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup in the spring.
Two of those horses – Rostropovich and Port Guillaume – are set to trial at Cranbourne on Monday.
Rostropovich ran fifth in the 2018 Melbourne Cup for Aidan O’Brien before being purchased by clients of Lindsay Park and then suffered a pelvic injury in the 2019 Cup before being off the scene until a two-run autumn campaign this year.
“We were very happy with his first jump-out at Flemington,” Ben Hayes, who trains in partnership with his brother JD, said.
“He was really strong through the line and ultra-impressive.
“He’s been acting like a young three-year-old. He’s been feeling great and we’ll see how he jumps out.
“If he’s heading in the right direction, we know he’s got the ability to run in a Caulfield Cup and all those races.”
French-bred Port Guillaume arrived in Australia last year and was high up in Cups betting before being ruled out with bone bruising.
Hayes said the five-year-old son of Le Havre was given a long spell and was gelded at the same time.
“He found the 800-metre jump-out on the short side so I’ll be looking forward to seeing him on Monday,” Hayes said.
“He’s a horse that kicked off over 2000 metres at his first ever start and the way he’s come out of that jump-out, and being fourth favourite at one stage for the Caulfield Cup, says he’s got the ability.”
Hayes said Port Guillaume was likely to start his campaign in the Listed Heatherlie Stakes (1700m) at Caulfield on August 28 while a ratings drop is likely to see Rostropovich start off in an open handicap over 1600m.
Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au