David Hayes is applying blinkers to Public Attention for Sunday\u2019s (1 February) HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m), a move the trainer believes will help the quality grey colt reach another gear when the Four-Year-Old Classic Series begins.\u00a0<\/p>
Public Attention placed fifth at Group 1 level in Australia pre-import, and has made three starts in Hong Kong \u2013 finishing in the top four each time. This weekend\u2019s contest sees him rise to a mile at Sha Tin with the addition of blinkers, which he wore to victory in the 2025 G3 Eskimo Prince Stakes (1200m) at Royal Randwick in Sydney.<\/p>
The Written Tycoon galloper is owned by Karen Lo, who also races Cap Ferrat, winner of the 2025 HK$26 million BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m). She also owns two-time Group 2-winner Straight Arron.<\/p>
Hayes said: \u201cI think he\u2019s been crying out for blinkers. I think he\u2019s primed to run well in what is a really, really competitive race \u2013 probably the best this season. He has very good form in Australia. It\u2019ll be first-time blinkers. We\u2019ve resisted putting them on, but we\u2019ve saved it for this race. He raced in them in Australia.\u201d<\/p>
One of the 83-rated Public Attention\u2019s peaks saw him finish fifth to Private Life in the 2024 G1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield in Melbourne. He also finished midfield in New Zealand\u2019s lucrative slot race at Ellerslie in Auckland, The NZB Kiwi (1500m), last March.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
Public Attention finishes fourth in Class 2 on 11 January at Sha Tin.<\/p>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Public Attention wore cheek pieces when second and third, respectively, in his first two appearances for Hayes, who also saddles Akashvani in Sunday\u2019s Hong Kong Classic Mile. Luke Ferraris rides Akashvani, while Brenton Avdulla is aboard Public Attention.<\/p>
Akashvani is a three-time winner in Hong Kong, highlighted by a last-start three-length demolition. The Alpine Eagle gelding is well-versed in racing in Hong Kong with 13 starts to his name, but like Public Attention, faces the 1600m at Sha Tin for the first time.<\/p>
\u201cThat win got him in the race. He\u2019s bred to get a mile, and he\u2019s in form. We\u2019re looking forward to it,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cThings weren\u2019t going right. He was probably running short of his distance, and I think that triggered me that he\u2019s probably a 1400 metre-miler. He\u2019s a very good young horse, and he\u2019s likely going to be the on-pace influence of the race.\u201d<\/p>
Hayes has previously won the Hong Kong Classic Mile (formerly known as the Hong Kong Classic Trial) twice with Resfa (1999) and Charming City (2001), while last Sunday (25 January), the world\u2019s best sprinter Ka Ying Rising matched Silent Witness\u2019 17-race unbeaten streak in Hong Kong for Hayes with another jaw-dropping success in the HK$13 million G1 Centenary Sprint Cup (1200m).<\/p>
\u201cKa Ying Rising has pulled up really well. He\u2019s eaten all of his food. It\u2019s full steam ahead to the Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup (G1, 1400m). We\u2019ll be building him up quietly with one trial beforehand, and he won\u2019t go to Conghua. I\u2019ll keep him here with me,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>
The Queen\u2019s Silver Jubilee Cup is worth HK$13 million and is run on 22 February as the middle leg of the three-race Hong Kong Speed Series, which finishes with the HK$24 million G1 Chairman\u2019s Sprint Prize (1200m) on FWD Champions Day (26 April).<\/p>
Sagacious Life, Little Paradise, Invincible Ibis, Beauty Bolt, Crimson Flash, Infinite Resolve, Patch Of Cosmo, Winfield, Top Dragon, Circuit Grand Slam, Shanwah and Windlord are also entered for Sunday\u2019s Hong Kong Classic Mile.<\/p>
Reserves for the race are Pope Cody, Daryl Flash, Aerodynamics, Natural Numbers, Uranus Star, California Waves, Fivefortwo and The Golden Knight.<\/p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”13438″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” onclick=”link_image”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]David Hayes is applying blinkers to Public Attention for Sunday\u2019s (1 February) HK$13 million Hong Kong Classic Mile (1600m), a move the trainer believes will help the quality grey colt reach another gear when the Four-Year-Old Classic Series begins.\u00a0Public Attention placed fifth at Group 1 level in Australia pre-import, and has… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":13442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"2normal","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13435"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13435"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13443,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13435\/revisions\/13443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/campaigns.hkjc.com\/racing-event-hub-4yo-series\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}