David Hayes has revealed the full extent of the devastation suffered at his family’s Lindsay Park property after making an emergency dash from Hong Kong to Australia to help battle bushfires that tore through Victoria.
The veteran trainer returned to Hong Kong at 7am on race morning just hours after flames passed through the Euroa-based property, leaving seven horses dead and most of the stable’s infrastructure destroyed.
“Well, we’ve had a time with the fires – a really bad time,” Hayes said after the Class 4 win of China Win in Hong Kong. “I haven’t slept for two and a half days.”
Hayes explained he had only just left Australia when he arrived back in Hong Kong, after spending more than two days fighting the fires alongside his wife Prue and their three sons — Ben, JD and Will.
“I arrived home here in Hong Kong at seven o’clock this morning, I was still in Australia fighting fires,” he said. “We lost 90 percent of our infrastructure. It was pretty horrific. We were looking after 320 horses with just four people.”
Despite the scale of the blaze, Hayes said the family and staff managed to save the vast majority of the horses on the property, though seven did not survive.
“We saved all the horses bar seven,” he said. “Seven didn’t make it. The main stable is okay because we’re surrounded by 100 acres of irrigation. We had the irrigation on and got as many horses inside as we could.
“JD and I had to go and catch the horses and bring them into the safe zone. It was really, really terrible.”
Hayes described a confronting scene in the aftermath, with the fire burning through almost all paddocks and destroying fencing across the vast property.
While the main stable complex survived, Hayes said the loss of fencing alone was immense.
“It’s 1500 acres of fencing,” he said. “You imagine all the fences … but the stables, (they’re) okay.”
Once he knew the immediate danger had passed, Hayes boarded a flight back to Hong Kong to fulfil his training commitments.
“When I knew the fire had passed, I got on the plane,” he said. “I thought I’d see China Win win today. It was a bad couple of days.”
Late Sunday, multiple fires were still burning out of control across Victoria, with hundreds of structures destroyed and communities continuing to assess the damage.
The Hayes family later confirmed the seven horses lost included five spelling horses and two retirees, with one additional horse remaining in critical condition. They said 320 horses were saved through the combined efforts of family, staff and emergency services. ∎
