The Lindsay Park stable of Ben and J D Hayes harbour Group 1 ambitions for Gentleman Roy after his first-up win at Sandown.
Having his first outing since finishing out of the money at Moonee Valley in October, Gentleman Roy rode the speed in taking out the Listed John Dillon Stakes (1400m) on Thursday.
Sent out the $3.30 favourite under Mark Zahra, Gentleman Roy scored a three-quarter length win from Dawn Passage ($7.50) with Crosshaven ($7.50) a further 1-¼ lengths away third.
Gentleman Roy has now won eight of his 16 starts and Lindsay Park has been careful in their placement of the gelding.
J D Hayes said the Group 1 The Doncaster (1600m) at Randwick in April was firmly in the stable’s mind along with a potential start in the All-Star Mile at Moonee Valley the previous month.
Stablemate Mr Brightside ran in the All-Star Mile before winning The Doncaster last year.
“We have mapped out a similar program to Mr Brightside into The Doncaster,” Hayes said.
“We think he’s a similar quality horse and definitely has an engine underneath there.
“There’s also the All-Star Mile and I’d like to get people voting for him as well as Mr Brightside, it would be nice to have two in the race.
“He profiles like Mr Brightside and has a similar rating at the same stage.”
Gentleman Roy is a rising seven-year-old that has been an honest campaigner through his brief career, while Hayes said the gelding had taken time to mature.
But the co-trainer said the stable had been lucky by being able to point Gentleman Roy towards a race and the gelding would rarely disappoint them.
“We’ve got a pretty good campaign ahead for him and if he can continue ticking the boxes, we’re going to have a couple of happy owners,” Hayes said.
