Lindsay Park is rarely without a cult horse in the stable and the gelding who has put up his hand as potentially the Hayes family’s next crowd favourite will chase a fourth-straight win this Saturday at Flemington.
Touchdown (NZ) (Almanzor) is set to start odds-on favourite in the $130,000 Honouring Our Jockeys Plate, which is the second race on the card.
It will be the first start at 2000m for the four-year-old, who has put together a hat-trick of wins on the Caulfield Heath track, and Will Hayes can understand the affection for the son of Almanzor.
“A good name and a picket fence often gets you a cult following,” Hayes, who trains in partnership with brother Ben and JD, said.
“He’s very well-liked by the punters and he’s an incredibly consistent galloper.
“This preparation, you could mount a case that he should be unbeaten, so he’s very consistent and looks to be quite progressive.”
Like Lindsay Park’s biggest cult horse of all, Mr Brightside, Touchdown started life in New Zealand, which is where he returned after failing to reach his $100,000 reserve when offered at the Sydney Easter Yearling Sale in 2023.
A soft win in a 1000m trial at Taupo in November 2024 for Matamata trainer Glenn Old prompted a flurry of offers and it was clients of Lindsay Park who won out, with Touchdown taking up residence at its Euroa property early last year.
Second in a 1400m Cranbourne maiden at the only start of his initial campaign, Touchdown broke his maiden first-up on September 14 before a luckless second placing at Ballarat, which preceded his past three wins.
Although Touchdown has been in work since midway through last year, Hayes said he was holding together well and signs were positive ahead of this weekend’s benchmark 78 contest, in which he will carry 60kg.
“He thrives at the property at Euroa, he’s a country boy, and he just gets out in the water walker and the day paddock,” he said.
“He’s maintained a very long preparation and he’s still bucking his brands off.”
Luke Currie, who was aboard for the first two Caulfield wins but surrendered the seat to claiming apprentice Jackson Radley last start, returns to the saddle this weekend with the pair to jump from barrier six in the field of 10.