Lindsay Park is expecting Beast Mode to benefit from a lighter weight in the Carlyon Stakes at Sandown.
Ideally, Beast Mode would be competing at Moonee Valley for the Group 3 Carlyon Stakes.
However, with Moonee Valley undergoing a significant transformation and remaining offline for approximately another year, the 1000-metre Carlyon Stakes will this year be run on the Hillside track at Sandown.
The Lindsay Park training team, consisting of Ben, Will, and J D Hayes, has Beast Mode in excellent condition. Ben Hayes conveyed the team’s disappointment that the race would not be held at Moonee Valley, the venue of Beast Mode’s last two wins.
“It was the perfect track for him,” Hayes said.
While Moonee Valley might be the ideal track for the sprinter, Beast Mode does have winning form at Sandown over the 1000-metre distance.
In four starts at the track and trip, Beast Mode has finished out of the placings on only one occasion.
Hayes noted that the downhill run at the start of the Sandown track suits Beast Mode.
“He’s a fast horse, so let fast horses be fast,” Hayes commented.
“He can get rolling early and I reckon he can run well.
“We’re happy with him.”
The Carlyon Stakes has been upgraded from Listed to Group 3 status for this year’s running.
The two most recent winners of the race, Baraqiel and Mornington Glory, went on to win the Group 1 Moir Stakes (1000m).
The Moir Stakes is also being held at Sandown this year, two weeks after Saturday’s race, and could be a target for Beast Mode.
But the immediate focus is on the Carlyon Stakes, especially after the sprinter’s last start in Sydney where he carried 61kg to a third-place finish.
Beast Mode will carry 57kg on Saturday.
“He ran super,” Hayes said of his Sydney performance.
“He got run over late. He was a month between runs, no trial.
“This time it’s two weeks into the Carlyon, plus he gets a little drop in weight.”
Beast Mode has drawn barrier three and will be ridden by Blake Shinn.
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