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| Staff Writer |
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In his pursuit of maintaining an unbeaten start to his spring campaign, Tempo won't play a significant role for Mr Brightside in the upcoming Memsie Stakes at Caulfield.
After a convincing victory in the Gr.2 PB Lawrence Stakes, Mr Brightside is set to compete in Group One company. The seasoned runner, who has earned over A$8.4m in stakes, will face tough competition from other top milers like Alligator Blood, Golden Eagle, and TJ Smith Stakes winner I Wish I Win.
Mr Brightside's Redemption Race
Although Mr Brightside has never raced against I Wish I Win, his past duels with Alligator Blood have been a mixed bag. While Alligator Blood has previously triumphed over Mr Brightside in events such as the Underwood Stakes and VRC Champions Mile, the latter has recently won their last two encounters in the All-Star Mile and Doncaster Mile. Alligator Blood is known to race best when leading from the front, but Hayes is confident that Mr Brightside possesses the necessary tools to handle any tempo in the Memsie Stakes.
"I think he's quite a versatile horse now," Hayes said.
"Slowly-run races or fast-run races, it doesn't matter to him.".
According to Co-trainer Ben Hayes, Mr Brightside has been doing really well since winning the Lawrence Stakes, which was strongly-run, against Pinstriped, trained by Enver Jusufovic.
"He's generally pretty vulnerable first-up," Hayes, who trains Mr Brightside in partnership with his brothers Will and JD, said.
"But the way he's come out of the race and the way he worked on Saturday morning was terrific.
"He's eaten up very well."
Hayes stated that even though Mr Brightside's first-up run was at a hectic speed, the Lawrence Stakes would not tire out the six-year-old for his second-up assignment.
"On data, it was a gut-buster but the horse hasn't pulled up like it was a gut-buster," Hayes said.
"He was always travelling on the bridle and hit the front a long way from home.
"If you rely on data, you'll go mad."