Hong Kong 2025 Champions Mile mission: Mr Brightside almost ready for take off

The nine-time Group 1 and All-Star Mile winner finished second in a quiet 800m hitout last Friday.

While there is no replay vision of the jump out, due to a technical glitch, co-trainer Will Hayes said Mr Brightside remained on track for departure to Hong Kong on April 14.

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“It was a classic first trial for us, (jockey) Craig (Williams) just fell on his neck,” Hayes said.

“He was beautiful in behind and just worked through his own gears to the line and finished second.

“We’re really happy with how he’s come out of it.

“We’re going to have a second and more serious trial next Friday and then on the back of that we’ll assess if we’re going to go to Hong Kong, but that’s the plan.

“We’d fly out Monday after the Friday trial … everything is all organised to go, full steam ahead.”

Mr Brightside was most gallant in defeat in the All-Star Mile last month, touched off by Tom Kitten.

The seven-year-old crowd favourite won the Group 1 Futurity Stakes the start before and finished second first-up in the CF Orr Stakes.

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Mr Brightside is slated to contest the $5.1m Group 1 Champions Mile at Sha Tin on April 27.

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“If everything goes to plan, it should be a good Sunday dinner,” Will Hayes said.

Meanwhile, Lindsay Park’s project sprinter Tatsumaki will contest a Benchmark race at Bendigo on Saturday.

The UK-bred sprinter, who resumed with a win at Caulfield to stay unbeaten after a four-year hiatus, including unraced stint in Hong Kong, won an 800m tick over jump out last Friday at Flemington.

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“Looks to have not skipped a beat and spacing his runs was a good call,” Hayes said.

“He was terrific the way he jumped out and similar to what he did before first-up.

“Hong Kong never went to plan … as a result we got him on the back of a very long time off, similar to Joyful Fortune, those sprinters do have a bit of juice left in their legs when they’re lightly raced.”

Lindsay Park trained a feature double at Caulfield last Saturday with Scenic Point (Listed Redoute’s Choice Stakes) and Nicolini Vito (Group 3 Victoria Handicap) both successful.

Originally published as Hong Kong 2025 Champions Mile mission: Mr Brightside almost ready for take off