Keeping it all in the family for The Hayden

By Andrew Smith

The first part of his name translates into “son of” – and there’s no questioning where Regazzo Di Tilly fits within the Garrard family.

The pacer will race in the slot held by the Daren Garrard Racing Owners Group in Saturday night’s second iteration of The Hayden at Albion Park.

He is the son of Mathilda Diventa, who the Garrard family bought at a Redcliffe sale, with Daren and his father CJ (Chris) Garrard taking a share in the mare.

After a successful racing career that included 12 wins and 14 placings from 43 starts, Mathilda Devinta produced her first foal, Regazzo Di Tilly.

For Daren, who also trains and owns the four-year-old with CJ, the family connection runs deep with the horse they call “Dav” at their Burpengary stables.

“We love him - he started his career with Darren Weeks and Kylie Rasmussen, they do all our breaking, and they take them through and race them as two-year-olds,” Daren said.

“We got him halfway through his two-year-old career, as Darren and Kylie were downsizing because they were so busy.

“We raced him as a two-year-old and as a three-year-old he performed well - we’ve had super success.

“But we’ve always just looked after him because we know the older he gets, the better he’s going to be, so fingers crossed.”

From his nine starts in 2024, Regazzo Di Tilly had posted four straight wins at Albion Park leading into the Constellations Carnival.

The Garrard clan had earmarked the pacer for a tilt at the $355,000 The Rising Sun, but were forced into a change of plans after a sixth-placed finish in the build-up race.

“His preparation was all targeted at The Rising Sun, and that was a perfect preparation, he won four - unfortunately we missed out on that race,” Daren said.

“We raced the Queensland Sun, finished on their backs and never got to pull the ear plugs or anything and we were left out of The Rising Sun so we went to the Consolation.

“His run was outstanding, he had to do a lot of work, but they went a second-and-a-half faster than what they did in The Rising Sun.

“He’s pulled up well - he’s ready for The Hayden now.”

The Hayden is named after Matthew Hayden, one of Australia's greatest-ever Test batsmen, with entrants restricted to three and four-year-old QBRED pacers that must be Queensland trained and driven.

It will once again offer a base prize pool of $100,000, while proceeds raised from the slot auction will also be up for grabs in a total pool of $207,000.

The winner will also qualify for a spot in the $2.1 million The Eureka to be held at Menangle on Saturday, September 7.

Daren said the family never had any second thoughts about selecting Regazzo Di Tilly for the slot race.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t afford to buy another couple of numbers which we would have liked to have had, but we got this slot and that’s what we’ll deal with and do our best,” Daren said.

“It’s a great concept - the winner gets to go to the Eureka, and racing in a $2 million dollar race would be unbelievable just as an experience.

“This carnival is just going to grow and grow – it’s the perfect place to be in winter, and the Queensland horses are getting better and better and it’s great.

“All the southerners come and they’re not winning them all like they used to so it’s really good.

“Every horse in the race is a threat, that’s how we look at it and at the end of the day it’s up to Angus to do the best he can to see how we go.”

Daren’s son Angus will be in the sulky for the 2138m trip at The Creek.

The young gun recently passed 100 wins for the season, his fifth successive year of reaching the ton.

A win in the family-owned runner on Saturday night would cap off a superb month for the 21-year-old reinsman.

“It would be really special, we’ve bred him ourselves and he’s been a great horse to us - he’s won a feature already, so it would be great to win this race and lock on to The Eureka,” Angus said.

“I had a really good start to the year, my first three or four months were really strong and      it’s obviously a long way to that total at the end of the year but hopefully we can pick up speed a little bit and might get near 200 wins.

“It’s a great time of year, I love it - you get the best horses, the best drivers, the best trainers and big money.

“I’ve been lucky enough to win a couple of good races so far and to pick up another one would be super exciting.”

The rising star is coming off the back of posting the biggest victory of his career to date at Redcliffe three weeks ago.

Garrard was on board to guide the Darren Weeks-trained Sinabun to victory in the Redcliffe Yearling Sale Race Series 2YO Final.

Again, it was the family connection that paid dividends for Angus, with the two-year-old owned by grandfather CJ and long-standing Garrard ally, Chris Essex.

“That was really special - Chris Essex is a great mate of ours and business partner with Dad as well, he was sharing in ownership so it was great to get a massive win for him,” Angus said.

“It was good for Darren Weeks and Kylie Rasmussen as well - they’ve been big supporters of mine and it was great to get a big win like that.

“CJ has been a massive supporter of mine, and obviously he’s a great grandfather and he’s been involved in the horses for so long.

“He’s won a few of those yearling sale races now so to get one for him and hear how excited he was, it was amazing.”

The Hayden will also generate funds for Shoreline, which has provided education and employment opportunities for Indigenous students since 2009.

The night’s racing at Albion Park also includes Group 1 events The Golden Girl and Sunshine Sprint on the penultimate night of the 2024 Queensland Constellations.