Following a fine country racing season that saw the trio produce 171 winners from a whopping 989 starters and amassing close to $5 million in prize money, the Hayes brothers were named runaway winners of the George Hanlon Trophy as Country Racing Victoria’s Trainer of the Year at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Saturday night.
The dominant season saw the Lindsay Park operation salute on over 60 more occasions than closest rival Ciaron Maher on country tracks, sealing a second straight win of the award.
Despite now making their mark in the metropolitan scene, placing second overall in metropolitan wins last season and claiming the overall Victorian Trainers’ Premiership, Will Hayes paid tribute to the country scene which remains the breeding ground for much of their metro success.
“Country Racing plays such a pivotal role in our industry, a lot of horses kick off their careers at country tracks and with the dream of progressing to metro grade, it’s certainly the foundation of our great industry,” he said.
“The team around us - myself and JD and Ben - really are the shopfront of what is such a great team.
“There’s incredible kilometres and a lot of hours to travel, but the country tracks are always prepared very well by disciplined teams, and we are always very proud to represent our horses at country tracks.”
JD echoed Will’s sentiment, noting the success of horses such as Evaporate, which was even beaten at Ballarat Synthetic before going on to place in the Caulfield Guineas and finding itself in a stacked Cox Plate field.
“You hit the nail on the head, country racing is often where horses kick off their careers, and it’s really good to be able to have them learn their craft there before you make the next step into metropolitan grade,” JD said.
“We wouldn’t be standing up here today without country race tracks, obviously, but we are very lucky with the organisation that we have and the world class facility, and the numbers that we have now.
“We’ve grown to quite a big stable, we’ve got plenty of bullets to fire, it’s just about the placement and making sure that they are able to hit the mark, and hopefully it’s onwards and upwards from here.”
There were a number of other Goulburn Valley nominees up for awards on the night also, with Benalla Racing Club pipped in the Event of the Year category, which they were a finalist in with the bet365 Benalla Gold Cup, while Seymour Racing Club was a finalist in the Club of the Year award, which was taken out by Warrnambool Racing Club.
