Last month brought in a new era for the time-honoured Lindsay Park, and it could hardly have started on a better note.
David Hayes has left the multi-generational family operation to return to Hong Kong, where he previously trained with success from 1996 to 2005. On July 10, he officially handed the reins over to his former training partners – his nephew Tom Dabernig and eldest son Ben Hayes.
Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig
The Dabernig-Hayes team has hit the ground running, winning 10 races in their first three and a half weeks.
“We couldn’t have asked for a much better start,” Dabernig said. “Our very first runner was a winner – Stormborn at Pakenham. Then our first metropolitan runner was Hard Landing, who won at Moonee Valley. So it’s been a really pleasing start for us.
“These are very interesting times at the moment, and particularly in Victoria, with COVID-19 and the economic climate. But I think the racing industry has done an amazing job to be able to keep racing going, and there seems to be some very good protocols and structures in place to assist with that. Everyone involved has to be highly commended.
"I think the racing industry has done an amazing job to be able to keep racing going." - Tom Dabernig
“Hopefully we can carry on the way we’ve started and just keep things ticking over. Obviously we’re coming into quite a tough time of the year with the spring carnival – the competition really heats up.
"But we’ve got some nice young horses coming through. There are some promising 3-year-olds, and the ones who have just turned two are currently in the process of being educated and coming into the system. There’s a lot of work involved at this time of the year, but it can also be hugely rewarding.”
A proud family legacy
The Lindsay Park story began with Colin Hayes, David’s father, who established Lindsay Park Racing Stable and Stud amongst the rolling hills of the Barossa Valley in South Australia in 1965.
In an era where most horses worked on traditional training circuits at city tracks, the Lindsay Park operation was a dramatic departure from the norm. But it became a world-class training complex that drew accolades from industry experts the world over.
Colin Hayes trained 5333 winners in his 43-year career, including 524 at Group or Listed level. He was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2001.
Colin and David Hayes in 1989
His son David has followed in his famous footsteps, winning multiple premierships and more than 4000 winners including 95 at Group 1 level.
Now the baton has been passed to Dabernig and Hayes, the next generation of an extraordinary family legacy.
Planning for the future
Having had a taste for Hong Kong racing in his previous nine-year stint, a return to the high-octane Asian racing centre was always a possibility for David Hayes.
With that in mind, he was keen to follow his father’s motto that “the future belongs to those who plan for it”, and he made moves to ensure that the Hayes family racing dynasty could carry on for his children Ben, Sophie, JD and William.
In 2010 he relocated Lindsay Park from South Australia to Victoria, selling the original property and establishing a new, purpose-built and state-of-the-art facility at Euroa.
Four years later he brought his former assistant trainer Dabernig into an official training partnership, with Ben Hayes following suit in 2016. Now, David Hayes feels he has completed his goal, and he is confident that he is leaving the family business in safe hands.
David Hayes will now run his own business in Hong Kong, separate from Lindsay Park and named Hayes Racing. He remains the proprietor of Lindsay Park but has moved into a hands-off “patriarch” role, leaving the operation under the capable command of Dabernig and Hayes.
Dabernig sees this as the result of a meticulous long-term plan and great foresight.
Tom Dabernig
“When I joined David in partnership a few years ago, and then Ben was brought in as well, it really set up a strong succession plan for the business,” he said.
“I think returning to Hong Kong was something David always had an open mind about, and it was probably always a possibility that he had in the back of his mind.
“He often used to joke about it with us – ‘If John Moore and John Size retire, maybe I’ll go back up there and give it another crack!’
“More recently he started to think about it more seriously, and when the opportunity arose, he decided to take it.
“Ben and I are fortunate to have had the opportunity to work for a number of years in partnership with David before his departure back to Hong Kong. It really ensured that it’s been a very smooth transition into us working without him.”
“Ben and I are fortunate to have had the opportunity to work for a number of years in partnership with David before his departure back to Hong Kong." - Tom Dabernig
A hallmark of many of Australia’s larger stables in the current era is the adoption of a corporate structure, becoming ever more sophisticated operations with ever-lifting standards of communication and performance.
David Hayes has sowed those seeds at Lindsay Park, setting up a high-performing team that includes Garry Quilty (General Manager), Darren Bell (Assistant Trainer, Euroa), Bill Papazaharoudakis (Assistant Trainer and Stable Manager, Flemington), JD Hayes (Assistant Trainer, Euroa and Flemington) and Gary Fennessy (50-year stalwart of Lindsay Park, who continues as Assistant Trainer at Flemington and takes on a roving role, travelling and overseeing interstate or overseas runners).
JD Hayes has assumed the role of Assistant Trainer
“We’re certainly benefitting now from the structures that David put in place seven or eight years ago,” Dabernig said.
“When he sold the original Lindsay Park and established the new facility at Euroa, I don’t think he could possibly have considered returning to Hong Kong at that stage. We were in a major re-establishment phase that really entailed a significant amount of energy and resources.
“But that work really paid off, and now we’re lucky enough to have a great facility in Euroa that’s really well established, and we have another excellent stable at Flemington as well.
“We’re also lucky to have a number of very good staff around us who have been in our business for a long period of time. They’re well established in senior roles and are a crucial part of our operation.
“The two of us have made sure that there haven’t really been any major changes to the day-to-day operations of Lindsay Park. The systems that we have here have been in place for a long period of time and are proven to work well, so we’ve just been keen to maintain those, and that’s made our jobs a lot easier.”
