Leneva Park backs Deep Field’s son Aysar and Lindsay Park’s next generation
Group 1 spring goals for former Shadwell-owned four-year-old entire with Hayes siblings at the helm
Group 1-placed entire Aysar (Deep Field) will retire to Leneva Park next year, but not before the Lindsay Park-trained four-year-old with a deep pedigree is given his chance to win a race at the highest level during the Melbourne spring carnival.
Leneva Park expressed interest in acquiring the former Shadwell Australasia-owned sprinter-miler, who was runner-up to Ole Kirk (Written Tycoon) in the Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), and owner Luke Vandersluys and general manager Mick Sharkie stepped up their pitch for the horse when a proposed deal to Hong Kong fell over about two months ago.
Sharkie yesterday confirmed Aysar would race under the Leneva Park banner, starting in Saturday’s Aurie’s Star Handicap (Gr 3, 1200m) at Flemington for trainers Ben and JD Hayes, after completing the biggest transaction in the farm’s short history to take on the son of Deep Field (Northern Meteor).
“There was a deal to sell him to Hong Kong and I believe the gentleman in Hong Kong pulled out,” Sharkie revealed yesterday.
“We’d shown interest in the horse about a fortnight before that deal was done and, luckily for us, when that fell through, JD (Hayes) picked up the phone and said, ‘look, there’s an opportunity here if you are still interested’ and we certainly were.
“He’s a talented horse, a beautiful type, so he fits the profile for us to be that speed stallion which we need for the future.”
Aysar has raced just nine times for two victories, once as a late-season two-year-old at Sandown, before finishing runner-up on four consecutive occasions at Group level.
During his late summer campaign, he split subsequent Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m) winner Portland Sky (Deep Field) and Blue Diamond Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa) in the Manfred Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) and beat home Rosehill Guineas (Gr 1, 2000m) winner Mo’unga (Savabeel) when second in the C S Hayes Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m).
“When we did our due diligence on him and started speaking to his riders and the Hayes team, the general consensus was that his mental maturity, more than anything, stopped his record from being better than it was as a three-year-old,” Sharkie said.
“He was in those good races and he probably didn’t understand how to go and ‘kill’ a race and really put it away. From what we have seen of him in trackwork – we’ve been pretty active since we bought him in getting our heads around how he is progressing – it looks like he’s made that mental progression as well as physical progression.
“He’s settling a lot better in his work. He just looks like it’s all happening for him and hopefully, for our sake anyway, it happens this spring and we can improve that record again and get a Group 1.”
Leneva Park and the Hayes brothers have turned to last season’s champion Melbourne jockey Jamie Kah to help get the best out of Aysar ahead of his seasonal return.
“Jamie Kah has come out and ridden him in a couple of jumpouts. One at Flemington and then a soft one at Lindsay Park last week leading into the Aurie’s Star this weekend,” Sharkie said.
“She hadn’t ridden the horse before but she said he’s perfect. He settles for her, he flows into his work and he’s ready to go and it feels like he has some gears under the hood.
“Hopefully on race day when she goes for those gears, he is happy to give them to her.”
The Memsie Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), both run at Caulfield, loom as potential early preparation targets for Aysar providing he runs up to expectations at Flemington this weekend.
“Kicking him off in the Aurie’s Star does a couple of things, it gives him a look down the straight as the (Darley) Sprint Classic later in the spring is a possibility and it also gives him that run under the belt going into a Memsie or a Rupert Clarke,” he said.
“Those 1400-metre Group 1s, he goes so well at Caulfield. It is a no-brainer to aim up at those races early and hopefully he can be competitive.
“As far as we are concerned, as long as he is adding more value into his performance and he is running up to that good standard, we are happy to target those races and then have a look at something again at the back-end of the spring and roll onto the autumn.”
While Aysar ran over 1600 metres three times last season, it is likely that he will be restricted to sprint distances this campaign.
“He’s a strong horse with flashy markings on him. There’s plenty of substance there. He looks like a fast horse, and to an extent he has been, but we’re hopeful that he can actually shorten up a bit,” he said.
“I know he ran second in the (Caulfield) Guineas and he was on an Australian Guineas campaign earlier this year, but the thought from Lindsay Park is that he might be a better horse at the shorter trips, the 1200 to 1400 metres, so we will certainly go into the spring with that in mind.
“We know that the big commercial appeal for stallions in Australia is for horses over shorter trips. That is what we need on our farm and hopefully he is.”
With form around Vinery Stud’s first season sire Ole Kirk and Yulong Stud’s Blue Diamond winner Tagaloa, Aysar also possesses potent bloodlines, being a half-brother to this season’s Silver Slipper Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) winner Home Affairs (I Am Invincible) and out of Miss Interiors (Flying Spur), herself a half-sister to Newgate Farm’s young twice Group 1-winning stallion Russian Revolution (Snitzel).
Aysar was selected by Shadwell agent Angus Gold who went to $260,000 for the Torryburn Stud-bred and sold colt at the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.
His younger half-brother by Capitalist (Written Tycoon) was bought by agent James Harron for $1.05 million at this year’s Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
“He is exceedingly popular, Deep Field, and it’s not just the Deep Field aspect with Aysar,” he said.
“You look at his family, there’s Russian Revolution close up in his pedigree and it is a really strong page. If Russian Revolution comes out with his progeny this year running and winning, we are going to be looking pretty good heading into his first season at stud next year.”
Leneva Park, which operates a successful pre-training and spelling property at Longwood in North East Victoria, expanded its operation by adding a Seymour-based stallion farm previously leased by Aquis Farm.
As a result, Royal Meeting (Invincible Spirit) came under Leneva’s management ahead of his second season at stud while Vandersluys also purchased Matthew Smith’s three-time Group 1-winning miler Fierce Impact (Deep Impact) to add to the 2021 stallion roster.
“I won’t lie, I had to twist Luke’s arm pretty strongly to go ahead with this purchase,” Sharkie said.
“It’s the biggest purchase we’ve been involved in, rolling into seven figures. It is not a small deal for us as far as our business is concerned, so we’ve taken that punt and put our faith in JD and Ben and this horse.
“Hopefully it comes off and, if it does, it certainly won’t be the last one that we go after as far as future stallion prospects are concerned.”