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By Ray Hickson

The Lindsay Park team hasn’t ducked any challenge with talented three-year-old Evaporate this season and co-trainer Ben Hayes says he’s ready for another at Randwick on Saturday.

Ben Hayes (Pic: Bradley Photos)

That’s taking on classy peer Swiftfalcon in the Group 3 $250,000 HKJC World Pool Carbine Club Handicap (1600m) on the back of a trip to New Zealand.

Hayes said this autumn campaign has given a glimpse of what he and brothers Will and JD believe he will develop into – not quite a Mr Brightside 2.0, that’s too high a bar to set.

“The stable has a very high opinion of him and I think he is more than capable of winning that race,’’ Hayes said.

“We have a lot of time for him, he’s a raw horse who is going to improve with age. He’s had a reasonably light autumn, albeit he’s travelled but I think the travelling has improved him.

“It was a good run against weight-for-age and he went over to New Zealand and didn’t get a lot of luck in that race.

“He's come through it well and he will love the mile so we’re going into the race very confident.”

After a game fourth behind Mr Brightside in the Group 1 Futurity Stakes (1400m), as Hayes mentioned he travelled Evaporate across the Tasman to tackle the inaugural The Kiwi where he ran second behind Damask Rose.

On that occasion the race didn’t pan out for the gelding as it appeared it would early and Hayes said it was a huge effort to recover from some early bother.

But he suspects there’s a good chance the Carbine Club could unfold more to his liking.

“He got shuffled back (in the Kiwi) and hit the line quite well to be beaten by a horse that probably had a better run,’’ he said.

“He landed in the box seat and the horses in front of him kept coming back in his face and he ended up near the rear of the field.

“From four he will be able to put himself in a nice position, travel nicely, and probably have a head start on (Swiftfalcon) so if he gets the right run he’ll be very hard to catch.”

Evaporate, $3.20 with TAB on Thursday, was kept up to the mark after his New Zealand trip with a barrier trial win at Randwick last week and one that Hayes said was an important exercise.

“We’re really happy with him, he had a trial there last week and thought he trialled very well,’’ he said.

“He’s a bit of a difficult horse to ride sometimes so Blake Shinn had his first sit on him and he gave him a good feel."

Meanwhile, Hayes said he’s sweating on Rise at Dawn gaining a start in the Group 1 $4m The Star Doncaster Mile (1600m) but concedes it’s not looking good.

The four-year-old, a winner of eight from 14, is stranded as first emergency and it’s telling that Hayes has released Hong Kong based jockey Karis Teetan from the ride with the expectation there’ll be no scratchings.

“I really hope he gets a run, he’s been targeted to peak in this race,’’ he said.

Evaporate wins a Randwick trial on March 28

“His trial was excellent and we thought his run in the All Star Mile was good. Going back to handicap conditions and a big drop in weight, he’s there to run well and drawn a barrier to get a soft run.

“If he gets in we’ll be happy, if he doesn’t so be it and we’ll probably go back to Victoria.”

All the fields, form and replays for Day 1 of The Star Championships at Randwick