Making Hay as the morning sun shines

Track gallops more often than not mean very little for the uninitiated, especially for those who don’t attend the early morning workouts on a regular basis.

Less that a week out from the Melbourne Cup Carnival, most horses are near their peak and work stylishly on the bit. The rare bit of news is usually bad … breakdowns and mishaps. Who will forget poor Carte Diamond running through the outside fence on the Tuesday before the Cup in 2005?

This morning at Flemington the carnival contenders worked on the course proper in front of a big crowd of media and a less informed bunch of breakfast goers at the official function – the second group was trapped behind a glass screen with little knowledge of what was going on outside.

Bart Cummings didn’t wait for the media and worked his team earlier in the dark, including the champ So You Think. We remain in the dark about the quality of the gallops, but, as mentioned, no news is usually good news at this time of the year.

Everything went to Hoyle – except maybe for Monaco Consul, who worked a bit too keenly early in his solo gallop, running 2000m in solid 2min 17.8sec. He laboured home his final 400m in a slowish 24.7secs, while in contrast Desperado slipped home in 22.90secs in a building gallop in partnership with the Oaks filly Zutaya, who, by the way, worked impressively.

Tony Noonan’s import Buccellati was the star galloper as far as the Cup was concerned. The little chestnut gave Derby contender Praecido a 12-length start and caught him in a 2000m gallop in a slick 2.15.7, the final 600m in 34.6. Buccalleti looks to have turned the corner after some moderate lead-up form. Noonan was pleased.

But then came the awesome beast that is Hay List (pictured).

The big horse, who somehow has lost a bit of the gloss and hype he engineered for most of the spring, not by his own doing, but the fact that the unbeaten mare Black Caviar has stepped up to the plate as a formidable foe, hummed down the straight in an 800m trial which had the clockers checking their watches.

Hay List, ridden by race rider Glyn Schofield, ran the 800m in 45.15, the final 400m in 21.5 – now that’s flying. Schofield still had the handbrake on.

Long-time Flemington trackman Gavan Spain labelled it a winning gallop. “Horse don’t work like that and run that time and get beaten,” he said. “I don’t think I have clocked a horse running quicker in these straight trials since Placid Ark (1987) and little Brawny Spirit. They are the only two horses I can remember breaking 46 seconds.”

Spain may have been forgetting Exceed And Excel, who I believe broke 46secs when he won a straight trial before winning his Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m, Flemington) in 2004, but such “match-winning” gallops are rare.

Trainer Danny O’Brien, whose colt Star Witness was in the trial, didn’t believe the time when Spain and fellow trackman Warren Huntly compared watches. “Are you sure?” he said. O’Brien, who is having a lean run, had every reason to leave with a spring in his step as Star Witness was second behind Hay List and more than held his own, finishing well clear of Quick Peek and Swift Alliance, who battled it out for third place.

Star Witness, the 2010 Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner, will run on Saturday against his fellow 3YOs in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m), although O’Brien didn’t discount backing the colt up against Hay List and Black Caviar in the Group 1 Patinack Farm Classic (1200m, Flemington) on Saturday week.

“We will get over Saturday first,” O’Brien said. “This horse just doesn’t go around corners, he’s a straight track specialist, which is why we have kept him for this race. I couldn’t be happier with how he is going.”

O’Brien agreed it is frustrating to have such a talented horse, but one with an aversion to turning left or right. However, he has set the colt on a straight track campaign that will cover the rest of the spring and the autumn, when he will be set for the Group 1 Lightning Stakes (1000m) and the Newmarket Handicap; and maybe a visit to Royal Ascot for the straight track dashes, the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes and the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes.

Bart’s boys and girls may have been home in their box munching on hay, but the garnish of a bit of the same for the media on today’s breakfast was fodder worth waiting for.