First stop on June 13 at Charleville in south west Queensland resulted in a winning double for Hayes with King Brown and Silent Ale.

Melissa Hames, an apprentice with Orange trainer Jeff Brash, was travelling with the Hayes team and had a great thrill when King Brown became her career first winner.

King Brown ($3.20) won the $7000 Price Rite Tyres Benchmark 55 Handicap (1200 metres) by a length from Magic Raelene (Les Tilley, $5.00) and Lucky Bobby (Chris Bryen, $8.00).

Silent Ale (Darryl Brown, $8.00) then prevailed in a photo finish over stablemate Monarchy (Melissa Hames, $3.00) and Blinkin Hasty (Cheryl Rogers, $6.00) in the Class B Handicap (800 metres).

The following weekend racing was at Charters Towers, inland from Townsville, and Hayes' Azarax (James Geppert, $4.40) won the $9000 Open Handicap (1200 metres).

Martin Haley, rider of the third-placed Starlistic ($2.35), until recently was based at Narromine as an apprentice with Kylie Kennedy and is now achieving success on loan to north Queensland trainer John Manzelmann.

With his adventurous spirit to the fore Hayes then headed to Laura, the venue for the most northerly meeting in Queensland.

Cowra jockey Mathew Cahill and his partner, fellow jockey Elanor Webster-Hawes, travelled by plane to ride for Hayes at Laura.

Following third placings on Horstyle ($10.00) and Silent Ale ($17.00) for the Hayes stable, Cahill won on Tropical Spirit and King Brown for Hayes.

Tropical Spirit ($9.00) won the $10,000 Laura Bracelet - Class B 1200 metres from Round The Corner (Frank Edwards, $3.00 eq fav) and Racing In The Wind (Peter Cullen, $4.00) while King Brown (4.00) won the $10,000 Benchmark 60 Handicap from Dane Will Do (Braydn Swaffer, $11.00) and Vincedora (Stephen Wilson, $11.00).

Next stop for the Hayes team was Oak Park, west of Cairns, and 1280kms north west of Brisbane.

Ridden by Cahill for Hayes, Tropical Spirit ($3.00 eq fav) was a half length winner of the $14,000 Murphy Memorial Class 2 Handicap from Standord (Sonja Wiseman, $11.00) and Mr Rainmaker (Martin Haley, $3.00 eq fav).

On the second day at Oak Park, Mathew Cahill finished third on King Brown ($4.40) and Silent Ale ($8.00) for the Forbes trainer.

Last Saturday on the way home, Hayes raced again at Charleville with his horse Moorings Magic (Todd Banks, $10.00) finishing second to Mugmarino (Les Tilley, $7.00).

Nyngan trainer Rodney Robb also had starters at Charleville with Rusty Motorbike ($3.00 fav) ridden by Parkes jockey Michael Hackett winning the Class B Handicap (1200 metres) by seven lengths.

Rodney Robb and Michael Hackett also combined for third placings with Sword Fighter ($4.40) and Marble Prince ($6.00).