Whisper Downs keeps on giving - Sydney Morning Herald

The David Hayes stable discovered the key to Whisper Downs about four runs into his latest preparation and have kept turning it for the past six months.

Whisper Downs, which is a contender for the title of the most durable horse in training, has been in work since last July and proved at Caulfield on Saturday that a few more runs are well within his capabilities.

''We worked out early in his prep that he was being ridden the wrong way,'' Hayes' foreman Bruno Rouge-Serret said. ''And we were probably running in races that were too short.''

Whisper Downs, the favourite at $3.50, took his earnings for this preparation beyond the $300,000 mark with his win in the Smart Track Australia Handicap (2000 metres) and the stable will now consider stepping him up to something better.

The son of the Hayes-trained stakes winner Churchill Downs came from near the tail of the field to beat stablemate Auld Burns ($6) by three-quarters of a length with Second King ($6) a distant third.

For winning jockey Chad Schofield the win was his fifth on the horse, but if he'd had his own way he'd have missed out on the past three. ''Chad wanted to send him for a spell five or six runs back,'' Rouge-Serret said. ''But David knew best.''

Whisper Downs is likely to go to Sydney for a minor race during the autumn carnival.

Meanwhile, having justified his trainer's faith with a long-awaited win in Tasmania last month, enigmatic galloper Under The Eiffel answered some pointed questions with another at Caulfield on Saturday.

''I've made a lot of excuses for him over the past year or so,'' trainer Tony Vasil said. ''And a lot of unsavoury things were said about him.

''But he's answered his critics now and we can look ahead.''

Under The Eiffel's second successive win came in the Sky High Mt Dandenong Handicap (1400m), surprising Vasil and most others on track.

''I thought he'd been beaten for sure,'' he said. ''I'd have happily copped a dead-heat.''

While compliments for Under The Eiffel had become rare, there were not too many complaints from the owners who paid $40,000 for him and who have since collected more than $500,000 from his racetrack efforts.

Under The Eiffel, favourite at $3.70, took the lead at the 300m, lost it 50m from the line and stole it back in the last stride to beat British General ($4.60) by a nose.

The imported stayer Garud ($5.50) made good ground to finish third.

The win also compensated Vasil for the defeat of short-priced favourite Elite Elle in the Charter Keck Cramer Handicap (1100m). ''I thought she was a certainty,'' Vasil said.

Elite Elle ($2.70) finished second, a half-length behind Sharnee Rose ($5) with Platelet ($5.50) 1½ lengths further back in third place.

AAP