Here To Shock delivers quinella to Lindsay Park team in The Supernova

The Lindsay Park training team of Ben, J.D. and Will Hayes pulled off a rare feat on Saturday in the first ever The Supernova.

With their horse Here To Shock finishing first by a half a head to his stablemate Arkansaw Kid, the team pulled off a stable quinella in the $1,000,000 race at Pakenham.

The betting apps favourite, Nadal, meanwhile, did not live up to his $2.50 listing. The Ciaron Maher-trained horse finished seventh in Saturday’s race.

“An absolute marvel”

Both Arkansaw Kid and Here To Shock were among the betting sites favourites to win The Supernova with $7.50 and $5 odds to win, respectively. Despite the odds, we don’t think anyone expected them to deliver like they did on Saturday at Pakenham.

Here To Shock, the winner, especially put in a strong performance. The seven-year-old gelding had to close a big gap between the leader Buffalo River ($41). Then, he had to conjure up an impressive sprint to fight off his stablemate Arkansaw Kid down the stretch.

Commenting on the race and Here To Shock’s performance, his co-trainer Will Hayes said: “It was terrific. (I was) cheering for both of them. Here To Shock, he’s an absolute marvel.”

Here To Shock’s performance was especially enthralling considering his last run. The gelding finished in a disappointing 10th place in the Big Dance at Randwick in November. However, Hayes said that run gave his team hope.

“We were very confident after the Big Dance in Sydney that we were going to get him back and we had our eyes set on this race from a long way out. So, that’s why he was representing our slot today,” Hayes explained.

“We gave him a tick over trial before this and we were really happy with him coming into today.”

What the jockey said

Daniel Stackhouse was Here To Shock’s jockey for Saturday’s $1,000,000 race. After the run, the winning mount was keen to put praise elsewhere onto his partner and fellow jockey Tatum Bull.

“I have to thank Tatum (Bull), my partner, for trialling him last week for me, she did me a big solid and she was going to be dirty it if I don’t give her a shout out, so I’d like to thank her and all the Hayes boys, all the owners too,” Stackhouse said.

He also commented on his past history with this horse.

“I rode him two and a half years ago, I think it was. He’s just a young kid, just out of control really.

“He’d sweat up. He’d pull. He just did so much wrong, but he always had a lot of ability, and a great job to the stable. They sorted him right out in the years that we’re seeing today because of him."

What’s next for Here To Shock

Here To Shock has a career record of 35-12-5-2. However, he has yet to win any Group 1 races. According to Will Hayes though, that could change sometime this season.

The gelding’s future remains to be decided, but the co-trainer made it clear that he and the entire Lindsay Park stable are open to testing him at a higher level.

“He’s a pretty dangerous 1,400 metre horse and we still think, well-weighted, he can get a mile. So the options are aplenty. I don’t think many horses will want to be seeing him line up against them,” Hayes said.