Australian Guineas Next for CS Hayes Stakes Winner Grunt

Australian Guineas Next for CS Hayes Stakes Winner Grunt

Grunt has stamped himself as a serious Australian Guineas horse with a strong win in this afternoon’s Group 3 CS Hayes Stakes (1600m) at Flemington.

Jockey Damien Oliver elected to settle Grunt slightly worse than midfield after jumping from gate 10 this afternoon and enjoyed a relatively carefree run in transit.

The champion hoop began to move the O’reilly colt into the clear as the field rounded the bend and found a nice position towards the outside of the pack with 400m to travel.

Clearly relishing the conditions of Flemington, Grunt mustered a big turn of foot when he was asked for an extra effort and set about running down race-leader Cliff’s Edge; winning the race in the final strides to complete an ideal lead-in to the Australian Guineas.

Oliver secured a race-to-race double in the CS Hayes Stakes after piloting Rimraam to a win in the Group 3 The Vanity forty minutes prior, and was thrilled with the feel offered up by Grunt this afternoon.

“This horse has shown nice potential, he’s a lovely colt and I really liked the way he dug deep when I asked him,”

“Cliff’s Edge put a good kick on him and I got serious on him, and he really answered the challenge well.

“He’s (Mick Price) put him away with these sorts of races in mind and he’s done the job well.”

Price was pleased with Grunt’s performance and win in the CS Hayes Stakes and will be offered three live chances in the Australian Guineas with the colt set to join Mighty Boss and Holy Snow in a fortnight.

“He beat the right horse (Cliff’s Edge) and he won the right way,” Price said after the CS Hayes Stakes.

“He’s a Flemington horse, a big long-striding horse and 1400m was not his ideal distance, it’s a little bit short for him, but that’s his run to get him in the Australian Guineas.

“He’s a good winded horse and perfectly sound and I think that will just take a little bit of the freshness off him.

“We’ve done out timing to get him into the Guineas and I actually thought he was going to be a beautiful 2000m horse. This Australian Guineas is a value race for them as colts and if he was to win a race like that (it would be good.

“He does have to beat Holy Snow and Mighty Boss.”

Grunt is $21 into $7 in our Australian Guineas market following this afternoon’s outstanding win.