Two more runners locked in for The Hayden
The upcoming Queensland Constellations event has recently secured two more noteworthy participants for its highly anticipated inaugural race, The Hayden. Free Thinker and For Real Life have both been confirmed as runners, joining an already impressive field of competitors vying for the grand prize of $231,000.
With a total of 13 starts in his career, For Real Life has emerged victorious in five of them. The talented horse’s winnings include over $113,000 in prize money and bonuses, with his most notable win being the Group 1 QBRED Triad 2YO Final in the previous year.
On July 15, the three-year-old will be competing in The Hayden at Albion Park, starting from barrier one. The slot for this race was purchased via auction by Harshell Investments, who paid the highest price.
Following the auction, discussions between slot holder Harvey Kaplan and driver-trainer Trent Dawson led to Kaplan’s decision to secure For Real Life for the upcoming event.
“I’d never spoken or met Trent beforehand but he was fantastic from the outset, he told me what was happening with For Real Life and what the plan was,” Kaplan said.
“The horse just ticked a lot of boxes – Trent has just been a great guy to deal with the whole journey and I thought we could form a nice partnership and have a lot of fun so we locked him in.
“Trent obviously owns the horse and drives him and trains him, no-one knows the horse better than him.
“The horse is a really lightly-raced horse, and has outstanding gate speed so he can certainly take advantage of barrier one.
“He’s a horse that seems to be getting better and stronger each time so I think he’ll be a major force in the race in a couple of months’ time.
“I think it’s fantastic Racing Queensland is able to support its own product and give up their slot that they pay for to go into The Eureka, so I can’t imagine why anyone with a good horse wouldn’t want to target The Hayden.”
Free Thinker will line up in barrier three in The Hayden, with slot holders GSM Racing locking in the highly rated three-year-old, who has posted five wins and eight placings from 16 starts.
According to Greg Mitchell of GSM Racing, the bay gelding is well-suited for the upcoming race.
“Going through the QBRED three-year-olds, I thought he was probably the most progressive and best three-year-old available so we went and spoke to the owner and came up with a plan,” Mitchell said.
“Being trained by Grant (Dixon) was obviously a significant bonus.
“I think Free Thinker is still coming forward, the bottom’s not there – I think he’s got good gate speed which is what we need.
“He’ll be in front at some stage, for how long who knows – that’ll be the plan, and the four-year-olds will have to chase us.
“It’s a good concept, I’m glad we’re doing something different – I think slot races have been overdone so to do a different style I think is what the market and the industry’s looking for.”
Online bookmakers have Speak The Truth ($2.50) marked as favourite for The Hayden, whilst For Real Life ($4.50) and Free Thinker ($51) are expected to have their admirers following this announcement.
Racing Queensland’s Senior Harness Racing Manager David Brick said he expected more quality runners to be confirmed for The Hayden soon.
“With over $230,000 in prize money on offer and a win guaranteeing entry into the Eureka, this race will be one not to be missed during the Queensland Constellations,” he said.
“As runners are required to be three and four-year-old QBRED pacers that are Queensland-trained and Queensland-driven, I’m looking forward to seeing who else will be signing up to run.
“We are expecting to confirm the remaining six slots for The Hayden shortly so watch this space.”
Stay tuned as the confirmation of the final six slots for The Hayden is imminent.
The Constellations, spanning seven weeks and featuring eight Group 1s, will offer over $3 million in prize money and bonuses.
