The track conditions and distance appear to be perfectly suited for Ndola as he prepares to contest The Meteorite.
The Lindsay Park training team is putting their faith in one of their own horses, currently in strong form, to claim a valuable million-dollar race at Cranbourne this Saturday.
With metropolitan racing shifting out of town next week, Cranbourne will be the focal point, hosting the Listed Cranbourne Cup (1600m) and the first of two slot races organised by Southside Racing.
The Meteorite, a 1200-metre dash, is the initial slot race, followed by The Supernova (1400m) at Pakenham on December 13.
Following a recent victory in the Group 3 Rising Fast Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on October 31, and a prior win in the Apache Cat Classic (1200m) at Cranbourne three weeks earlier, Ndola is displaying form that has Ben Hayes feeling optimistic about his chances.
“We’re really happy with him and we have got him on our slot,” Hayes stated.
“He’s arguably in career best form and the track and trip is no issue especially two starts back.”
If sheer consistency is a measure of success, Ndola has been remarkably consistent, achieving a Racing and Sports rating of 114 in each of his last three outings.
Regarded primarily as a sprinter, the 1200m distance of The Meteorite is seen as the preferred target for Ndola, with the stable believing it suits him better than the 1400m at Pakenham later on.
“1400 sorts him out, unfortunately,” Hayes added.
“We thought early days that he would get out in trip but he is doing a good job over 1200-metres considering he has got bad wind. He’s a good sprinter.”
The Hayes stable is also set to field Arkansaw Kid in The Meteorite, aiming for a better result than his second place in the 2025 edition to Jigsaw, who won twelve months ago.
“He’s won over $2 million and is a multiple group two winner and group one placed and he ran inro a horse who went on to string a number of wins in-a-row.
“Jigsaw won’t be there and I thought his last run was good.”
As the major spring carnival races conclude and attention shifts to other venues, Ben expressed satisfaction with how their spring campaign has unfolded.
“We were a bit slow at the start and didn’t start as well as we wanted but we were happy with it,” he commented.
“Four (wins) is nearly the best we’ve done as a partnership and a couple of good winners in Sydney through Cup week, so we are happy but would like to improve.”
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