Kris Lees’ Rustic Steel set for regional Qld’s richest race, The Archer

Trainer Kris Lees’ multi-millionaire equine Rustic Steel is chasing the whopping first prize of $565K in regional Qld’s richest race.

Rustic Steel winning the inaugural The Big Dance at Royal Randwick on November 1, 2022. Picture: Bradley Photos

Slowly but surely the pieces for the $1 million racing jigsaw titled The Archer are falling into place.

The fourth running of The Archer (1300m), the richest race in the history of Rockhampton racing, will be run at Callaghan Park racecourse on Sunday, May 4.

The brainwave of the Rocky Amateurs, more formerly known as the Central Queensland Amateur Racing Club, the 2025 edition of The Archer will be the richest race ever run in regional Queensland.

In was inaugurated in 2022 with a $440K purse before jumping to $750K in 2023 and 2024.

In keeping with its prize money hike to $1 million in 2025, early entries include racehorses with winning prize money of that status - and more.

See social photos from The Archer in 2024

Multi-millionaire equine Rustic Steel, prepared by Kris Lees at Newcastle, is chasing The Archer first prize of $565K to add to his lucrative nest egg of $2.127 million.

It will be the Lees’ stable’s fourth attempt to win The Archer.

In its first running, his pair Gem Song and Ventura Song ran fifth and seventh.

Trainer Kris Lees lis chasing victory in The Archer with Rustic Steel. (Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images)

Back again in 2023, Gem Song ran ninth while stable companion Animate was sixth.

Then last year, the Lees’ stable representative Uncalled came in fifth.

A class racehorse and a Group 3 winner of 10 races, Rustic Steel has been set by Lees for a first-up win in The Archer.

He has been fitted by a series of barrier trials of late, with the most recent a week ago when winning a Newcastle trial.

That convinced Lees, who knows what’s required to win an Archer, that it was all systems go for Rockhampton.

See social photos from The Archer in 2022

“I’m happy with him and I would dearly love to win The Archer for his connections Ron and Judy Wanless, who are Queenslanders,” Lees said.

Regular Sydney rider Josh Parr, a 13-time GR 1 winning jockey, has been booked for Rustic Steel in The Archer.

Parr finished second in The Archer last year on Lavish Empire.

This coming Saturday, Parr will be riding in the $5 million feature race, The Kia Quokka, at Ascot in Western Australia.

There he will ride Sydney trainer Bjorn Baker’s Overpass.

Baker will also be represented in The Archer by recent Sydney GR 2 and GR 3 winner Iona Merc ($1.016.525), which will be ridden by Ash Morgan.

It'sourtime, ridden by Billy Egan, wins the Standish Handicap at Flemington Racecourse on January 11, 2025. (Photo by Brett Holburt/Racing Photos via Getty Images)

It’sourtime, another in the Millionaire’s Club ($1,159,850), will represent Toowoomba trainer Pat Webster in The Archer, with Les “Bubba” Tilley booked to ride.

Tilley, a dual Rockhampton Cup winning jockey, knows the Callaghan Park track like the “back of his hand”.

Local aspirant, the Nick Walsh-trained Hell, impressed with a runaway 1000m barrier trial win in fast time on Wednesday at Callaghan Park.

Trainer Nick Walsh was pleased with the effort under Ashley Butler, twice a winning jockey of The Archer.

Walsh said no jockey had been booked for Hell at that stage for The Archer.

Originally published as Kris Lees’ Rustic Steel set for regional Qld’s richest race, The Archer