When Mr Brightside first arrived at the Lindsay Park stables at Euroa in early 2021, there was little to suggest that he would one day develop into one of the world’s top milers.
Aside from a brilliant name, taken from The Killers’ hit, Mr Brightside had finished fifth at his only start at Matamata in New Zealand.
He had a lacklustre pedigree, being by the unfashionable Bullbars out of an unraced mare, although his fourth dam Taiona was twice New Zealand Broodmare of the Year for producing top-liners like Sovereign Red, Gurner’s Lane and Trichelle.
He could not reach his reserve of NZ$50,000 at a ready-to-run sale as a two-year-old
Most importantly, though, he was far from straightforward in the mornings and didn’t look to have the attitude to develop into a Group 1 horse, no matter his ability.
“Early days he was a bit tricky,” co-trainer Ben Hayes told Andrew Le Jeune on the latest Idol Horse Podcast. “When he first came over, I think in his first preparation he dropped the rider six times. He was a bit cheeky, he used to whip around a lot.
“But as he’s got into his preps and got older, he’s probably the most sensible horse we have in the stable at the moment. He’s got a very calm mind. He’s a happy horse, always very bright in his box and always sticks his head out to say hello.”
A large part of that development has come from jockey Craig Williams, who has ridden the seven-year-old in 39 of his 43 starts – only missing wins in the All-Star Mile and Doncaster Mile through injury in 2023 since they combined for a dominant maiden victory at Geelong four years ago.
“He’s a very special horse to me,” Williams told Idol Horse from Perth, where he will ride in the A$5 million The Quokka before catching an overnight flight to Hong Kong. “He’s the horse I’ve had the most success on ever and his attitude just improved with every start to give him the chance to develop into a world-class horse.
“The Hayes boys did the right thing by taking him through the grades slowly, he put all those wins together in the spring of 2021 and that gave him the perfect grounding for when he did step up against the big guns later that season.”
Mr Brightside will tackle hometown hero Voyage Bubble in the G1 Champions Mile (1600m) at Sha Tin on Sunday. His owners are hoping for atonement after he was nosed out by Hong Kong champion Romantic Warrior on home soil in the 2023 Cox Plate, a World Pool-designated race that was beamed into Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
“I still can’t believe how much Hong Kong racing fans love him,” said one part-owner . “I still don’t think we are over getting beaten by Romantic Warrior, although what he has achieved since proves just how great a horse ‘Brightside’ is. But that performance obviously got him a lot of fans in Hong Kong and they have really got behind him, it’s a bit unexpected but they love him as much as we do.
“We might have to bring him back in December if he runs well on Sunday.”∎
