Lindsay Park looks for early start with Hard Kick

Successful on debut in the Listed Talindert Stakes (1100m) at Flemington in February, Hard Kick resumes in the TAB We're On (1000m) at Flemington on Saturday.

Lindsay Park trainers Ben, Will and J D Hayes in consultation with their father David Hayes, the principal owner of Hard Kick, elected not to run the two-year-old in the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) a week after his imposing Flemington win.

Runner-up Zambales went on to run fourth in the Blue Diamond before running second in the Group 2 VRC Sires' Produce Stakes (1400m) ahead of a campaign in Sydney.

Will Hayes said it was a difficult decision to bypass the Blue Diamond at the time, but the team is buoyed by the development of Hard Kick in his time away from the racetrack.

"He's like an 18-year-old growing into a 20-year-old's body," Hayes said.

"He's naturally strengthened and developed and he's ready for his three-year-old year.

"We weren't 100 per cent happy to do the back-up with a two-year-old and as a result he has come up a terrific product, and that's all that mattered.

"It was a team decision, and it does help when the 100 per cent owner is David Hayes himself.

"It was very much an internal conversation, and we followed our processes and we were given great guidance by Dr David McKellar who is an incredible vet for as at Lindsay Park."

A relatively new race on the Flemington calendar, Saturday's 1000-metre race has been won previously by Giga Kick (2022), First Settler (2024) and Shining Smile last year.

Giga Kick later went on to win The Everest (1200m) in Sydney after two more wins while First Settler finished second in the Poseidon Stakes down the Flemington straight, later winning the Danehill Stakes.

Hayes said the win of Cruiserweight at Caulfield last Saturday gives the team some added confidence ahead of Hard Kick's return with the two-year-old scoring a jump-out victory over that galloper at Werribee on July 3.

He said Saturday's kick-off was planned to give Hard Kick a run under the belt before the early season three-year-old races kick-in.

Hayes said the Group 3 Vain Stakes (1100m) on August 15 and the Group 3 McNeil Stakes (1200m), both at Caulfield, two weeks later were the likely next steps for Hard Kick.

"We're going to have a run under our belt, which was our intention, as he did have a nice, long break," Hayes said.

"The Vain, the McNeil, will all be races considered going forward, but we think he's come up super and his trial form has been franked by Cruiserweight coming out and winning dominantly."