3 months ago
6
By John Schell
December 15, 2025 — 4.53pm
Top local trainer Kris Lees is banking on weight of numbers to give him plenty of Christmas cheer at Tuesday’s Wine Country Race Club meeting on the Beaumont track at Newcastle.
Lees will have eight runners in five of the seven races, commencing with Golden Smile in the Davali Yearlings @ Classic Class 1 & Maiden Plate (2100m).
Kris Lees (left) has a host of runners at Newcastle on Tuesday.Credit: Getty Images
Andrew Gibbons was aboard Golden Smile when a she was a last-start second behind Doradus at Newcastle at the end of November, and the jockey retains the ride in Tuesday’s event.
“She’s an imported mare that has won a maiden at Newcastle back in May this year and has had a number of placings since joining the stable,” Lees said of Golden Smile.
“She raced on the speed at Newcastle at her latest start and battled on strongly to run second, and if she can repeat that then she should be very hard to hold out again.”
Lees will have three runners in The Adviser Collective C,G&E Maiden Plate (1150m) with Irresistibility (Benjamin Osmond), Mega Pixel (Aaron Bullock) and Surpasser (Regan Bayliss) set to go around.
“Irresistibility has only had the one start and should be improved by the run after finishing sixth at Taree,” Lees said. “Mega Pixel has been placed in both of his starts and he is knocking on the door for a win. And Surpasser is on debut after three trials in total and I’m hopeful he can run well.”
First starter Oakfield Iowa will represent Lees in the Spartan Central Coast Feb F&M Maiden Plate (1150m) with Ashley Morgan taking the ride from a wide gate.
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“She’s had three trials and one recent one, and is primed to run well,” Lees said.
Last-start winner Trounce will be ridden by Gibbons in the New Zealand Bloodstock – Karaka 100 Years Benchmark 58 Handicap (1350m), while the jockey will also ride Herman Said in The Prince Of Merewether Class 1 Handicap (1200m), the same event in which stablemate Etoile Filante will be partnered by Osmond.
“Trounce won well at Taree and can go on with the job,” Lees said.
Supplied by Racing NSW
Full form and race replays available at racingnsw.com.au
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