Rising star Briasa puts Everest in sights with gritty Hunter victory

Team Hawkes are looking to next year’s The Everest with rapidly rising star Briasa after the four-year-old wore down Felix Majestic in the shadows of the post to win the $1 million The Hunter (1300m) on Saturday at Newcastle.

Having just his seventh start, Briasa was a $3.10 favourite to win for the sixth time, this time against classier opposition.

Briasa wins the Hunter on Saturday.Credit: Getty Images

“He’s a real competitor, he just wants to win, like he showed today,” Hawkes stable representative Steve Thompson.

“There’s still very much a lot of upside to this horse.

“He’s still raw, and in 12 months’ time I can probably see him in an Everest.”

Tyler Schiller pushed Briasa to the narrow win, giving the hoop back-to-back victories in The Hunter, after steering Coal Crusher to a front-running demolition last year. The Joe Pride-trained Coal Crusher was third on Saturday.

“He just doesn’t know how to lose,” Schiller said of Briasa.

“I know he’s been beaten that once, but geez he had an awfully tough run today and the day he got beat. He just loves a dogfight.

“Hats off to the second horse, he dug in for the fight. I thought I had him a long way out, but it took me the whole last 100 to get him.

“I chose this fella probably three weeks ago. The Hawkeses told me to pencil him in, and if I rode him on the Kenso and he ran well, I’d probably stick with him.

“Back-to-back wins in the Hunter is fantastic. It’s now a group 2, and it’s fantastic to come here and win. I don’t love travelling to Newcastle because of the traffic, but it makes it worth it coming to these races.”

Strong start for Irish star

Irish young gun Dylan Browne McMonagle showed strength beyond his years to get Snitzanova over the line in the group 3 Spring Stakes (1600m) and land his first stakes winner in Australia.

Browne McMonagle, 21, recently started his second off-season stint Down Under with the Ciaron Maher stable and is this time basing himself in Sydney after experiencing Melbourne last year.

A four-time group 1-winner across meetings in Ireland, Germany and France, Browne McMonagle has already ridden on many of world racing’s biggest stages for top Irish trainer Joseph O’Brien.

He lifted Snitzanova ($7), a maiden winner last start on the Kensington track, to a narrow victory on Saturday over the fast-finishing French Ruler.

Dylan Browne McMonagle after winning on Snitzanova.Credit: Getty Images

“It’s good to get a stakes winner here,” he said.

“It’s hard to ride winners no matter where you go, so I’m lucky I’m getting on these horses that make it worthwhile.

“She was a bit keen early, and I was a bit worried, but she was good and tough.”

Browne McMonagle was later denied a stakes double when Tim Clark and Queensland stayer Nikau Spur edged out Herman Hesse in the listed $300,000 The Beauford (2300m).

The win was a career highlight for Toowoomba trainers Corey and Kylie Geran.

Filly delivers special win for Lees

Newcastle trainer Kris Lees and his family savoured an emotional win to open the day when Gobi Desert showed early toe then fight to lead all the way in the eighth edition of the Max Lees Classic (900m).

It was a first victory for Lees in the two-year-olds’ $160,000 dash named in honour of his father, a 20-time group 1-winning trainer out of Newcastle.

Honoured: Kris Lees.Credit: Getty

The Too Darn Hot-Hell It’s Hot filly, a $280,000 buy from the 2023 Gold Coast Yearling Sale for Yulong, held on by half a length as an $11 Sportsbet chance with Clark aboard.

“It’s good. It’s an honour to have a race named after Dad, and to win it,” Lees said.

“They are not easy to win, a city two-year-old race this time of the year. We’ve had a couple of tries, but it’s good to win one.

“And if you look at the history of the race, there’s been some good horses run in it. Cylinder got beaten in one, so it’s always been a good horses’ race.”

As for what win Lees wanted more on The Hunter day, he quipped: “My father would rather win a $1 million race later in the day. So it’s a good thrill to win it, but I’d rather win the money.”

Bush trainer finds winning tonic

One of the biggest cheers of the day came from the connections of long-shot Blue Guitar when it took out the Highway Handicap to give veteran Dubbo trainer Peter Nestor his first city winner since returning from a five-year hiatus – and two heart attacks.

The $51 chance edged past favourite Cable Express close to the line for Nestor, who returned to training early last year and has three in work.

“I wasn’t retired, I never retired. I went and worked harder I think,” Nestor said.

“I got a bit disillusioned with the game. I was having a good trot at the time, actually. I went and helped a good mate of mine, Steve [Allam], set up a spelling and rehab centre up.

“I’d been crook for a while and I decided to go home, and I had a couple of heart attacks, so I thought I better get a couple of horses to get me out of bed.”

Nestor will target the Country Classic (2000m) at Rosehill in two weeks with Blue Guitar.

Gaz back on track

Local racing identity Gary Harley was back trackside for the first time in 16 months at Newcastle on Saturday, and loving every minute of it.

The 75-year-old battled ill-health and spent time in hospital midway through last year after a fall, then later returned to remote work with Sky Channel and the Newcastle Jockey Club. He also mourned the loss his wife, Sue, just before Christmas last year.

The NJC invited Harley to The Hunter meeting and helped with transport, and he was thrilled to be back, saying it had been “the best day”.