3 minute read

Mo’unga makes great first impression; Hayes not too cross about tough barriers;

Mo'unga makes great first impression

Mo'unga has been given the tick of approval ahead of a tilt at Saturday's Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m).

Top jockey Damien Oliver travelled to Caulfield on Tuesday to ride the son of Savabeel for the first time and said the Chris Waller-trained rising star handled the track and going left-handed perfectly.

"He certainly got around the left-handed way at Caulfield for the first time as good as you can ask for. I was happy with him," Oliver said.

"You just want to see a horse coming from Sydney adapt to going left-handed for the first time and make the turns well. It's a bonus if they take it all in their stride, which he seemed to do this morning.

"He is a nice, relaxed type of horse. He was really adaptable, gets over plenty of ground. I couldn't have been happier with what I felt for the first time sitting on him."

The three-year-old colt has won each of his three starts, including a dominant performance in the Listed Dulcify Quality (1500m) at Rosehill last month.

It will be Mo'unga's first attempt at Group-level racing and Oliver said he felt there was still a lot of room for improvement with the horse.

"He looks like a horse that's still on the way up, to me. He hasn't probably raced at the highest level yet, but there certainly looks like there is room for improvement with him," Oliver said.

Hayes not too cross about tough barriers

Ben Hayes believes Crosshaven's racing style can help overcome his outside barrier draw of 15 in the Gr.1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m).

In what proved to be a horror barrier draw result for the Hayes and Tom Dabernig stable, their other runner Aysar drew the second outside barrier of 14.

"It wasn't an ideal barrier draw for us," Hayes said.

"I think for Crosshaven, he has the speed to go forward and cross from that outside draw and just roll along which is his racing style."

Hayes said the draw was a trickier one for Aysar.

"He only went back last start because he missed the start. We'll have to have a look at the field and see where he might end up," Hayes said.

"I'll have to have a chat with Tom and also with (jockey) Damian Lane and work it out from there."

Hayes believes Crosshaven has been the forgotten horse in pre-race chatter regarding the Caulfield Guineas with the focus on the Sydney colts Mo'unga and Ole Kirk.

"Crosshaven hasn't done much wrong - he's won four of his five starts and no-one is talking about him, which I don't mind as I'm happy for him to do the talking," he said.

"If he gets a good run he'll be right in it. It's easy to say before the race that the Sydney colts have the better form, although they do look good, they have to prove it here."

Bred and part-owned by Auckland-based Daniel Nakhle, Crosshaven has won his past two starts, the Listed Exford Plate (1400m) and the Gr.3 Caulfield Guineas Prelude (1400m) at his last run.

Daniel Stackhouse has partnered him at his past four starts, which have included three wins, and again has the ride.

Hayes said Aysar had been working really well and the stable believed he was up to Caulfield Guineas standard.

"He's been trained to peak and he's looking for a mile," Hayes said.

"He galloped with a Group One galloper from our stable this morning and had little trouble accounting for him."

Lindsay Park hasn't tasted Caulfield Guineas success since 1994 when David Hayes trained St Covet to win.