Shoals Leads 2018 Kevin Hayes Stakes Field & Odds

Anthony Freedman’s Myer Classic winning filly Shoals is favourite to return to racing with a win at Caulfield Racecourse this weekend heading the Kevin Hayes Stakes 2018 field and odds.

Shoals is favourite to returning to winning form this weekend in the 2018 Kevin Hayes Stakes on CF Orr Stakes Day. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

Set to run as Race 5 at 2:50pm (AEDT) on CF Orr Stakes Day, Saturday’s edition of the Group 3 $150,000 Kevin Hayes Stakes (1200m) attracted a class line-up of 10 three-year-old fillies before the early scratching of Miss Oklahoma (9).

Carrying 58kg under set weights plus penalties and drawn a treat in gate two for jockey Mark Zahra is the current $3.40 favourite in Kevin Hayes Stakes betting at Ladbrokes.com.au, Shoals.

The daughter of Fastnet Rock is undefeated first-up (2:2-0-0) and kicks off her autumn here having last been seen at Flemington on VRC Derby Day winning the Group 1 Myer Classic (1600m).

Shoals has beaten tougher company and also has a perfect three-from-three record over the 1200m distance making her a hard-to-beat favourite in an open race.

Second elects in the Kevin Hayes Stakes odds at an equal $4.40 each for the win are market mover Tulip and the Mathew Ellerton & Simon Zahra-trained Booker who are both also first-up on the weekend.

Lindsay Park’s well-bred Pierro filly Tulip is perhaps best known for her Golden Slipper Stakes third last autumn and she is out to atone for a mid-field 10^th last time out behind Merchant Navy at Flemington in the spring’s Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m).

This is an easier assignment fresh for the honest filly who performs at her best fresh and who is looking to break a winning drought going back to her Group 2 Magic Night Stakes (1200m) win at Rosehill in March last year.

Booker has Dwayne Dunn aboard in gate six first-up on Saturday, the daughter of Written Tycoon last seen finishing sixth to Aloisia in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) back in October on the back of a lead-up Prelude win at the Caulfield track.

Before the Group 1 sixth, Booker finished in the money in all five of her previous starts and gets the chance to return to that consistent form fresh in a Group 3 against her own kind.

The two other single-figure fancies in the markets are Smart Coupe ($8.50) and Leather’n’lace ($9) drawn in barriers five and four respectively.

A stablemate to Booker, Smart Missile filly Smart Coupe is second-up after a narrow defeat over 1100m here on January 27 and has Craig Williams coming aboard for this tougher assignment.

Darren Weir saddles-up Street Cry filly Leather’n’lace who has a 50% winning strike rate over her six start career to date including success at Caulfield and is out to improve on her Thousand Guineas eighth last time out.

Check out the full Kevin Hayes Stakes 2018 field and betting markets below, pricing on the Caulfield races this Saturday open online through Ladbrokes.com.au.