Hayes relies on durable duo for Caulfield

Friday 19 April 2013, 3:15pm

After Chad Schofield won on Whisper Downs at Caulfield in early January he suggested to his boss David Hayes that the horse needed a rest.

Hayes went on to show why he's won seven Victorian training premierships and it was Schofield who ended up having the rest.

"Chad thought he'd had enough but I was pretty sure we'd get a few more runs out of him, he's pretty tough," Hayes said.

A "few more" has turned into five in which Whisper Downs hasn't missed a place, winning at his second last start again at Caulfield.

Whisper Downs is back at his favourite track on Saturday in the Story Landscaping Handicap (1800m), a race in which Nick Hall replaces the suspended Schofield.

The run will be the gelding's 16th in a preparation that began more than a year ago and is showing no sign of being wound up.

"He loves Caulfield and the distance is right for him," Hayes said.

Whisper Downs comes into the race on the back of a third placing behind stablemate Jet Away in the Group Three Easter Cup (2000m) at Caulfield three weeks ago, a race in which he carried only 0.5kg less than he has on Saturday.

The four-year-old is one of two Hayes runners engaged at Caulfield whose durability is on a par with their ability.

The other is Rose Pattern in the Mares Handicap (1400m).

A daughter of champion sire Redoute's Choice and the speedy filly Fair Embrace, Rose Pattern has had 12 starts in a preparation that began, like her stablemate's, more than a years ago.

The winner of three in a row during spring and early summer, Rose Pattern most recently finished sixth behind Plucky Belle in a similar race over Saturday's track and distance on March 30.

"She's another who is as tough as they come," Hayes said.

"She won a string of races in Sydney and Melbourne last spring and has been close to that form lately.

"I'm fairly confident she can bounce back."

The in-form Hayes stable also runs the debutant Super Hunter in the Visvanathan Memorial Plate, Fuddle Dee Duddle in the Cath White Memorial Handicap and Backstedt, Prisoner Of War and Tigerish in the echucamoama.com Handicap (1800m).

– AAP

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