Ben, JD, and Will Hayes of the Lindsay Park training team say their star gelding, Arkansaw Kid, could run in The Everest and The Golden Eagle in back-to-back starts. While not Group 1 races, these events are two of Australia’s richest races. Both would be a big step up in competition for the rising five year old.
Arkansaw Kid has yet to win a Group 1 race in his career. He has started out the 2024/25 racing season with two wins from three starts.
When it comes to big races this time of year, there aren’t any bigger than The Everest and The Golden Eagle.
The Everest at Randwick Racecourse on 19 October is Australia’s biggest race, with $20 million of prize money up for grabs. The Golden Eagle and its $10 million in prize money is not far behind on the list of Australia’s richest races.
Arkansaw Kid has ambitious plans to run in both of these massive races this month.
According to Lindsay Park trainers Ben, JD, and Will Hayes, they are hoping to enter Arkansaw Kid in both The Everest and Golden Eagle. This plan comes on the back of the four-year-old winning two of his three races since being gelded.
“He’s won a Stakes race and a Group 2 since being gelded, and has run second in a Stakes race, so I think the gelding has made him concentrate,” Ben Hayes said.
Arkansaw Kid won the Regal Roller Stakes at Caulfield in August. He then finished runner up in the Chautauqua Stakes and won the Group 2 Bobbie Lewis Quality.
Hayes continued: “He’s a racehorse now, one that is not copping a bump and having a little sook, and he could be racing for big money in his next three or four starts which is exciting.
“The sprinting stocks are very even, and I’d say he’s up there, but he needs to convince people.
“We’ll keep him sprinting for now, but we wouldn’t mind trying him out on a trip…He could have a long career ahead as a gelding and, in the next month he could be running for $30 million whereas he might have only sold for $1.5 million or $2 million as a colt.”
While Lindsay Park and the Hayes team would like to see Arkansaw Kid race for $30 million over the next month, nothing is certain yet.
For now, the gelding is only scheduled to race in the Group 2 Gilgai Stakes at Flemington this Saturday. After that, he could run in The Everest on 19 October or the Group 3 Sydney Stakes on the same day.
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