Lindsay Park kept up their stronghold in the top prize event on Bendigo’s Golden Mile card on Saturday as the Hayes siblings unleashed the promising Marffiano to take out the VOBIS Gold Rush.
The half-brother to Tycoon Star headed a Lindsay Park quinella by beating Resonant in the two-year-old contest offering $250,000 in stakes along with $30,000 in VOBIS bonuses.
This marked the third consecutive success for Ben, Will and JD Hayes in the VOBIS Gold Rush, following their win last year with Killiana and earlier with Bold Bastille in 2024.
Marffiano, by exciting new sire Home Affairs, fetched $475,000 at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, and Ben was delighted to witness him showcase his quality on race debut.
“Just before the race we were saying how he’s quite a laid-back customer – a bit like his older brother, he can be a bit lazy in trackwork sometimes as well – hence the winkers were on,” Hayes said.
“He’ll come out one morning and do his work well and then, next time, it’ll feel like you’d never taught him do anything and he’ll get it all completely wrong.
So, the owners have been through ups and downs through the whole preparation but to come out and win a big VOBIS race like this is just a big thrill and well done to the whole team.”
Even with Hayes’ concerns beforehand, Marffiano at $9 performed impeccably at Bendigo, using a sharp start and position close to the pace-setters to take command about 150m from home and fend off the late charge from Resonant at $19 for a half-length victory.
Running Rich at $11, who set the pace, fought on gamely to claim third, another 1-1/4 lengths back.
Declan Bates partnered Marffiano for his initial outing and the rider was pleased with the colt’s performance.
“He made my life pretty easy, to be honest,” Bates said.
“He was a real, gentleman. He done everything right – he began nice, the speed was nice, we were able to just camp off it and I just liked that the further we went in the race, the better he went underneath me.”
Although Marffiano began his racing life in impressive fashion, Hayes indicated he and his siblings would likely avoid stretching his preparation, opting instead to spell him and aim for key three-year-old sprint targets come spring.
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