Trainer Kris Lees has stakes races in mind for consistent mare Hellavadancer after her well-earned win at Rosehill

Apprentice jockey Ben Osmond’s strong work ethic and planning helped deliver a maiden Saturday city winner and a deserved win for consistent mare Hellavadancer at Rosehill.

Apprentice jockey Benjamin Osmond lands his first Saturday city winner on Hellavadancer at Rosehill. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

Apprentice Ben Osmond and his boss Kris Lees combined for a maiden Saturday city winner as consistent mare Hellavadancer put a potential black type raid on the table at Rosehill Gardens.

Osmond has been a quiet achiever in town over the winter months and the young gun broke new ground when he helped Lees’ mare score a well-earned breakthrough in the Kia Ora Prague Benchmark 78 Handicap (1400m).

It drew high praise from his Newcastle-based mentor.

“He is a hard worker that does his homework,” Lees said.

“He came out and said I will try to be one-one again and is getting some opportunities.

“During the week he comes down to ride for Chris (Waller) down here so he is getting his chance and he is making a good fist of it.”

Osmond hadn’t been far away on Hellavadancer when the mare was third in the same grade last start at Rosehill Gardens.

She relished softer conditions this time as she showed a sustained sprint from the top of the straight.

Hellavadancer pulled clear late to beat James Cummings’ Godolphin duo Nanshe ($3.80) and Sequestered ($3.60) by three quarters of a length.

“She seemed to travel a lot better (than last start),” Osmond said.

“She went through her gears a lot more when I asked for her which was probably due to the softer track.

“It was good to get the first Saturday win for Kris.”

Hellavadancer had run fourth, second and third in Sydney Saturday races this preparation before finally breaking through for a well-deserved victory.

Lees is now open to raising the bar again with the five-year-old with races like the Listed Mona Lisa Stakes (1350m) at Wyong on September 1 and Group 3 Tibbie Stakes (1400m) at Newcastle on September 20 both possibilities.

“Because she is going well, we might give her a chance in stakes company,” he said.

“We will try to enhance her value at some stage.”

Hellavadancer wasn’t the only horse of relish the soft conditions.

The Ciaron Maher-trained Piastri continued his hot run of form on a rain affected conditions with a comfortable win in the James Squire Benchmark 78 Handicap (1100m).

Hellavadancer gets a hellava win with Ben Osmond in the saddle for @Leesracing! 💃 🕺 pic.twitter.com/8CcZmjlZvr

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) August 17, 2024

Piastri had been among the acceptors for Saturday’s Caulfield meeting but Maher opted in favour of heading north and it paid significant dividends.

“We elected to bring him to Sydney for this race,” Maher’s assistant trainer Johann Gerard-Dubord said.

“A bit of rain probably helped him.

“He is a horse going well. Last start it was a big win when he was wide for most of the way.

“He is still only lightly-raced but he has arrived from Victoria in good order.”

Maher has the son of Choisir flying this preparation with three wins from four starts.

Jockey Jason Collett was able to take advantage of a favourable draw to have Piastri ($3.60) travelling in the box seat in running.

He was forced to make his run closer to the inside in the straight but Piastri excelled in the inferior going to race away for a one-and-a-half length victory from the Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes-trained Gitalong ($4).

Matthew Smith’s leader Way To The Stars ($6.50) battled on for third.

“It was nice placement by Ciaron and the team,” Collett said.

“They found this race and obviously got soft ground that he was loving in Melbourne.

“He is in really good form and is just going to another level.”

Piastri, who shares his name with Australia’s top F1 driver Oscar Piastri, has shown he too has plenty of speed to burn on the track with four victories from his eight starts to date.

Meanwhile, race favourite Lost failed to finish off as expected, finishing a touch over three-and-a-half lengths off the winner.

Originally published as Trainer Kris Lees has stakes races in mind for consistent mare Hellavadancer after her well-earned win at Rosehill