TEAM HAYES' TWO RUNNERS, EUROCANTO AND TORTURE, DRAW ABYSMALLY IN THE BLUE DIAMOND STAKES

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, February 17, 2026

When the Ben, Will and JD Hayes training partnership and the connections of Hard Kick resisted the temptation to pay the $55 000 late entry fee to give the son of All Too Hard the chance to go into the Group 1 Blue Diamond on a seven day back-up, after their obviously talented gelding scored an impressive debut win in last Saturday’s Listed Talindert Stakes, it didn’t mean the stable would be left empty-handed in the big race on Saturday.

The Hayes Team, in fact, has two runners set to face the starter in the Blue Diamond in the form of Eurocanto and Torture.

Both of these runners won on debut giving a hint of more to come.

Eurocanto won the Listed Matibyrnong Trial Stakes at Flemington back in October, when just touching off Streisand (who won the Blue Diamond Prelude earlier this month) in a very tight finish. Torture won the Listed Debutant Stakes at Caulfield, also in October and she had the smart Tornado Valley behind her that day.

While neither Eurocanto or Torture have saluted again in a combined total of three subsequent starts, the foundation for improvement is clearly there, particularly under the astute guidance of the Hayes team.

But some things are completely out of the trainer’s hands … such as, what barrier draw their horses receive, and the barrier draw for the Blue Diamond was certainly not a friend to either Eurocanto … who drew barrier eighteen … or Torture … who drew, even worse, in barrier twenty, the extreme outside gate.

That sets more than a bit of a poser for jockey’s Luke Currie (Eurocanto) and Celine Gaudray (Torture) as to how best they can negotiate their barrier draw disadvantage, while still allowing their respective mounts every chance of being competitive at the business end of affairs.

The ‘got a ticket, got a chance’ still applies, but it won’t be easy from out there.

Both of the Hayes trained runners are currently quoted at $51.