Lindsay Park have Sterling City, Gregers and Churchill Dancer in the 2015 Bobbie Lewis Quality field and he is happy with all three sprinters ahead of the Group 2 event at Flemington on Saturday.
Churchill Dancer is one of three David Hayes-trained runners in the 2015 Bobbie Lewis Quality at Flemington this weekend. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Churchill Dancer returned to the races with a close second behind Sunday Escape in the Jolley Handicap (1000m) at Flemington on August 8 and he produced arguably the best performance of his career to date to record a dominant five lengths win in the Hill Handicap (1200m) at Moonee Valley on August 22.
Hayes said that Churchill Dancer has gone to another level since he had surgery at the end of his 2014 Spring Racing Carnival campaign and the leading trainer believes that the five-year-old could be his best chance in the Bobbie Lewis Quality.
“He has just improved out of sight since we have done the knee surgery,” Hayes said.
“In this class he has struggled in the past, but he is well-weighted and he might have gone up a notch.
“I think he is a really good each-way chance.”
Gregers returned to racing in the Listed Carlyon Stakes (1000m) at Moonee Valley on August 22 and she was caught wide before tiring late to finish eighth before she was scratched from The Cup Club Stakes last weekend after drawing a wide gate.
The Commands mare has drawn an inside barrier for the Bobbie Lewis Quality and Hayes is confident that she will produce an improved performance this weekend.
“She will improve and she is going well,” Hayes said.
“She is drawn to get a bit of cover and I am expecting to sprint well up the straight.
“She has never won up the straight, but she has performed well there.”
Rounding out the Hayes trio in the 2015 Bobbie Lewis Quality is Sterling City and the Dubai Group 1 winner is set to make his Australian racing debut on Saturday.
Hayes does not expect a great deal from Sterling City in the Bobbie Lewis Quality, but he is confident that the Nadeem gelding will take plenty of benefit from the run as he gets further into his 2015 Spring Racing Carnival campaign.
“He will probably be a bit ring-rusty,” Hayes said.
“He is a very good horse and he is an international Group 1 winner.”
Churchill Dancer is currently available at 2015 Bobbie Lewis Quality odds of $8 and is the punters pick of the Hayes trio from Gregers ($11) and Sterling City ($21).
