Crosshaven has not won since the 2020 Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes and Ben Hayes hopes getting back out to 1600 metres for the first time since that event can spark a turnaround in fortunes for the gelding this weekend.
The four-year-old joined Ballarat Cup-winning stablemate Zayydani among 43 nominations for Saturday’s $200,000 Golden Mile at Bendigo.
Nine of Crosshaven’s 10 starts since the Carbine Club, including a last-start second to Doncaster Mile hope Kissonallforcheeks at Flemington, have been in 1400m races and Hayes said the time is right to give him another go at 1600m.
“His only two other times at a mile he has won the Carbine Club at Flemington and ran fourth in the Caulfield Guineas,” Hayes, who trains in partnership with his brother JD, said.
“So, he’s got a pretty record at the mile. He’s sound, he’s very healthy and fit and it’s a good time to try him again.
“He was a really good run last start, he just ran into one unfortunately that was a little bit better on the day, which happens to this guy at the moment, but we really can’t fault him going into this race.”
The last-start second placing in the Group 3 Shaftesbury Avenue Stakes was the eighth start of a campaign stretching back to the Group 3 The Heath (1100m) at Caulfield in August and Hayes said the son of Smart Missile was holding together well.
“He’s been in since the spring and we’ve just been spacing his runs and he’s held his condition well the whole preparation,” he said.
Crosshaven will be joined in the Golden Mile by Zayydani, who hasn’t started since making it back-to-back wins in the Matriarch Stakes and Ballarat Cup.
Hayes said the Golden Mile was the first step in a path directed towards the Queensland Winter Carnival.
“She’s hard to get a guide on because she can be a very lazy worker at home but she generally always needs a run first-up, so we’ll be riding her quiet and having her hit the line,” Hayes said.
“When she gets fit, that’s when she comes good. If everything goes to plan (on Saturday) she will go to the Easter Cup and then head to Queensland where the Doomben Cup is the main goal.”
The Hayes brothers also nominated Biometric for the Golden Mile but Hayes said he is more likely to run in the 1400m BM100.