Tyler Schiller is unbeaten in three rides on up-and-coming sprinter Briasa and he is optimistic of extending that sequence to four when he partners the heavily-backed favourite in the $1 million The Hunter at Newcastle.
The Hawkes Racing four-year-old has been crunched from $5 into $2.80 for Saturday’s 1300m showpiece and arrives there as the winner of two of his past three starts.
Schiller has been aboard for both, also scoring aboard the Smart Missile gelding on debut at Kembla Grange in March and says Briasa’s most significant area of improvement has been his confidence.
“He is more confident in between runners, where at his first start he was very raw,” Schiller said.
“He got it done, but I thought he had a lot of improvement, and he has shown that through the end of his last prep and the start of this prep.
“I think he’s got a lot more to come too. He hasn’t been challenged yet, so I’d be surprised if he doesn’t have a couple more lengths up his sleeve.”
Briasa has been beautifully placed by the Hawkes yard to win five of his six starts, the latest a three-length demolition of a benchmark 88 field on the Kensington track.
With his confidence high and weighted on the 53kg minimum, Schiller feels the timing is perfect to test the waters in stakes company.
“He is definitely up to it. I know he’s still low in the benchmarks and low in the weights and gets less weight from those good horses than what he should, but he is definitely a classy horse,” he said.
“He has got the confidence and fitness under his belt too.”
As does Schiller, who has snared nine wins from his past 50 rides, four of them in stakes races.
He is hoping to keep that form going into the late-spring and summer, starting at Newcastle where his rides also include Kirkeby for Chris Waller in The Beauford (2300m) and the Richard and Will Freedman-trained Miss Spacegirl in the Spring Stakes (1600m).
“It was a little bit quiet a month-and-a-half ago, but it picked up a few weeks ago and it has had a snowball effect. Hopefully we can keep it going,” Schiller said of his form.
Briasa will come into barrier 10 with the scratching of Uzziah and is a clear-cut favourite ahead of Kosciuszko winner Far Too Easy at $4.
