Veteran Jacquinot Bay chasing a second Lord Stakes
With the recent retirement of Extra Zero, Jacquinot Bay is now the grey beard of the Lindsay Park operation.
But the 10-year-old certainly hasn’t lost his zest for racing and at Caulfield on Tuesday will attempt to claim a second victory in the Listed Lord Stakes.
Not long after joining the Lindsay Park stable following the death of Guy Walter, Jacquinot Bay won the 2014 Lord Stakes, run that year at Sandown.
He backed up in 2015, finishing seventh at Caulfield before missing the race last year.
On Tuesday he will line up for his 17th start this campaign and co-trainer Ben Hayes says the gelding has never been in better order, despite having not won since Flemington in June last year.
“He’s an old warhorse,” Hayes said.
“He’s now the oldest horse in our yard and he just keeps putting in good runs.
“He’s a horse that keeps on thriving being in the stable and when he goes back to the farm we get him out in the paddock for a couple of hours during the day and he loves it.
“He’s like Extra. He loves being in training and is going really well and his piece of work at Flemington this week was excellent.
“He’s a very consistent horse and everyone loves him in the stable.”
Jacquinot Bay has filled placings at his past three starts.
He ran third in Group Three company at Sandown last month while at his latest outing he finish second to Master Rest, an opponent on Tuesday, at Pakenham on December 9.
Lindsay Park will also be represented by Keen Array in the Listed Christmas Stakes.
Keen Array won the Group 2 Gilgai Stakes at Flemington early in the spring and has been freshened since a last start sixth in the Kevin Heffernan Stakes at Sandown on November 18.
“He’s very fresh and hopefully he can run well,” Hayes said.
“His work has been nice and after Tuesday we’ll work out a path towards the bigger sprints in the autumn.”