Fresh from conquering Champions Day at Flemington, Joe Pride has turned his attention to this Saturday’s $1 million The Hunter, in which he be heavily represented.
Past winner Coal Crusher will be joined by Pride-trained stablemates Accredited, Estadio Mestalla and Golden Mile in the 1300-metre event at Newcastle.
The Hunter will be run seven days after Ceolwulf won the $3 million Group 1 Champions Mile and Pride is delighted with the team he has assembled for the race.
“Coal Crusher was a nice run in the Russell Balding and there’s the two horses that went really well the other day – they ran one-two at Randwick – so it’s a strong hand in what will be no doubt a competitive race,” he said.
Pride’s quartet were among 29 entries for The Hunter. Potential rivals include The Ingham winner Robusto and his Bjorn Baker-trained stablemate Iowna Merc, Group 2-winning sprinter Airman, the progressive Yorkshire and highly-rated Ciaron Maher-trained import Darnation.
Last year’s The Hunter was won by Briasa, who used it as a stepping stone to stamp himself one of the country’s best sprinters in 2025.
Coal Crusher was third in last year’s The Hunter, having won the race in 2023. Twelve months earlier he won a benchmark 88 on the same program.
The eight-year-old son of Turffontein heads in off a fourth placing in the $3 million Russell Balding Stakes, when beaten 4-3/4 lengths by Jimmysstar.
Estadio Mestalla and Accredited fought out the $300,000 Choisir Handicap at Randwick on Melbourne Cup Day, when the former scored a last-stride win over his more-fancied stablemate.
Golden Mile also comes out of the Russell Balding, but finished 6-1/2 lengths behind his stablemate when 13th of 15 and Pride is eager to see him lift.
“He’s been disappointing so far so I’m hoping he can find something, because he needs to find a couple of lengths,” he said.
