How the Hayes family racing dynasty bounced back after fire devastated their Lindsay Park base
The smell of charred wood and scorched earth still hangs over Lindsay Park.
A blackened gum tree, clinging to its brown, dead leaves, stands just 100 feet from the resort’s trainer’s lodge, a daily reminder of the firestorm that nearly wiped the Hayes family’s Euroa farm off the map.
JD Hayes doesn’t need a reminder.
He can remember the trauma of January’s bushfires in vivid detail as he and his brothers Ben and Will prepare their horses for Saturday’s Australian Cup meeting at Flemington.
He recounts that almost three months later, an unstoppable fire killed seven horses, destroyed Ben’s house, and destroyed a smaller barn complex and barn. Incredibly, he says it could be worse.
“We got lucky,” JD said. “95 percent of our farm was affected, but irrigation saved our main stables and roads. We had 350 horses on the property… only seven didn’t make it.”
His first encounter with fire occurred on Thursday, January 8.
He and his twin brother Will returned to Lindsay Park, 17 kilometers south of Euroa, from training duties in Melbourne because the property was under threat. Their older brother Ben was on the Gold Coast for the Magic Millions sales.
At this stage, the fires were brought under control. The Hume Highway was closed and properties were being evacuated.
“Literally when you come to the farm, we come to the intersection and we get a call from the CFA saying you’re on fire,” JD said.
“There was just smoke. I’ve never seen smoke like that. It was incredible.”
“You can’t explain it. It’s scary… like a war zone. The wind and sound can be heard like it’s on fire. That’s when we had to evacuate.”
This was the beginning of 48 hours of hell.
Luck and courage served the Hayes family that first day. Fifteen CFA trucks battled the fire at their border before a sudden wind shift sent the fire in a different direction. Lindsay Park was saved.
But the feeling of relief barely lasted through the night. On Friday, the firestorm would return to finish what he started.
“Friday was that terrible day. There were 60 mph winds and it was 45 degrees. It was the perfect storm,” JD explained.
As fires ravaged the area, spewing thousands of menacing embers into the air, the Hayes family, including parents David and Prue, who had returned to Australia from Hong Kong for a wedding, moved frantically around the farm, putting out local fires. They received help from many staff members.
“But due to the forecast, the amount of smoke and the fire front you could see, we had to leave,” JD said.
“So we fueled up all the generators, turned on the sprinklers, and walking out on Friday afternoon thinking this could happen was the worst feeling. It was awful.”
The Hayes family were in Shepparton desperately waiting for updates.
“The CFA was saying our Criterion stables are gone, Ben and Grace’s house is gone, and we’re just hoping they don’t say the main stables are gone,” JD said.
“The CFA were amazing. They were defending until the last minute, but if they thought the main stable complex was going to catch fire they would have released all those horses. It would have been chaos.”
When the family was evacuated, more than 100 horses were still in pastures on a more sheltered side of the farm.
“Friday night, when we came back around 9pm after the fire front had passed, my mom, dad, I and Will walked in and there were stray horses everywhere,” JD said. “The fire burned all the fences.”
What impressed him was the calm demeanor of his horses, even as the fires lit up the surrounding hills.
“When the fire reached the paddocks, the horses jumped from the front of the fire onto the burned ground. It was incredible,” he said.
“Then we had to catch as many as we could in pitch darkness. You walk into a paddock and you only have one leash and there are 15 horses and they’re all following you. It was surreal.”
What happened the next day still makes JD shake his head. Since there was no fence on the farm, they had to move 130 horses to a safer place. The trucks started arriving at 7 a.m. on Saturday.
Troy Corstens, president of the Australian Trainers’ Association, had helped organize a convoy of trucks, from the likes of Ciaron Maher and Chris Waller to smaller country trainers like Craig Weeding, to buy Hayes’ shares. Even suspended jockey Ben Allen used a ride to help.
Inglis later opened the sales complex at Oaklands Junction to stable the horses.
“The racing industry is an incredible industry,” JD said. “When the work is done, people come and help.
“By about 10 o’clock we had gathered all the horses we needed to get off the property. We were able to evacuate the farm within three hours, which was incredible.”
JD said he fell into a deep sleep after running on adrenaline for 48 hours. But other than that, there was little time for rest. He said it was business as usual. The race did not stop.
“The clean-up is just as stressful because you’re dealing with insurance, we had all the fencing removed, we had 130 horses that had to be moved from Inglis to another farm and then we had the runners on Saturday,” Hayes said.
There were also personal losses. Ben and his wife Grace, who gave birth to a daughter in October, were in danger of losing their home.
“They had just been renovated,” JD said. “They stayed there for two nights. Most of their personal belongings were there, they were all gone.”
“It Would Be Better If We Relaxed [Up] There are memorabilia and all the C.S. Hayes memorabilia there too. So all my father’s belongings are gone. Like the photos of him training 10 winners in one day.”
But as green shoots continued to bloom in Lindsay Park, the Hayes family emerged from the ashes.
They are rebuilding the fences, have plans for a new Criterion barn, and are preparing to build a new house for Ben and Grace.
“You always think, ‘Oh, this can’t happen to us,'” JD said. “But we’ve lost that mentality now, because this has happened twice in 10 years. Now we’ve started to prepare.”
“It could have been a lot worse, but our system stood up to save as many horses and property as we could.”
This week the brothers have been busy preparing their runners, including smart two-year-old Gin Twist, Godolphin sprinter Pisanello and Australian Cup fantasy Apulia, for Saturday’s Flemington meeting.
“HE [Apulia] We won the Perth Cup on January 1 and got burned seven days later,” Hayes said. “It’s not in his power to win on Saturday.
“We put the goggles on. He’s a very good Flemington horse and 2000 yards away he put the writing on the wall he was looking for. We’re quietly confident he won’t let us down.”
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