Hyeronimus hopes for early luck to help turn the tables in $2m Ingham

2 hours ago 1

By Craig Kerry

December 12, 2025 — 5.00pm

Adam Hyeronimus is making a habit of being on the right horse this season in Sydney, and he believes Estadio Mestalla can be just that in the $2 million The Ingham (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday with a change in luck early from a better draw.

With 19 winners from 100 rides (19 per cent) before Friday night’s Canterbury meeting, Hyeronimus was behind only James McDonald (34 at 25.2 per cent) on strike rates at the top end of the metropolitan premiership.

Joe Pride-trained seven-year-old Estadio Mestalla has delivered two of those wins and was close to another last start when second in the $1 million The Gong (1600m) on a heavy Kembla track.

Hyeronimus went wide in the straight to find better ground and led before Nash Rawiller-ridden Gringotts surged late on the inside section to win by a half-length.

Gringotts ($4.40 TAB) and Estadio Mestalla ($8) are among the top chances again in The Ingham, along with Yorkshire ($4.60) and Sabaj ($5.50).

Hyeronimus had to navigate a draw in 14 in The Gong, while Gringotts jumped from five. On Saturday, Estadio Mestalla was into gate 10 while Gringotts had the extreme outside in the 20-horse field. Yorkshire (13) and Sabaj (19) also had tricky gates.

The turnaround in barriers has Hyeronimus optimistic about the chances of Estadio Mestalla, which was brilliant first-up to come from well back and win the $300,000 Choisir Handicap (1100m) before making up great ground to finish sixth in The Hunter (1300m).

“I was pretty adamant that I was in the best part of the track,” Hyeronimus said of the third-up run in The Gong.

“It was just probably the early pressure we received from Waterford on our outside, in very testing conditions, after we did a bit of work to establish our position, I just thought that early pressure was probably the difference between us winning and losing.

“He’s drawn some awful gates this preparation. His run first-up was very good and his run in The Hunter was extremely good, and he’s run a fantastic race in The Gong, so it’s nice to have finally drawn somewhat of a better gate.

“And the way these races are done at the weight scale, it’s generally the four or five best horses who are fighting out the finish and I expect that to be the same on Saturday.

“I’d like to be in a forward position. There’s probably a number of horses down in the weights who are poorly weighted and I’d like to race in front of those.”

Hyeronimus gets a rare chance on Pride’s two-time Hunter winner Coal Crusher in the listed Razor Sharp Handicap (1200m), where he was a $4 chance.

“His win in The Hunter was very good, and his trial on Monday was very good as well,” he said.

“Coming back in distance is probably the only query, but Joe’s very meticulous in what he does and he keeps his horses quite fresh, so I don’t see that being too much of a problem.”

In the other features, Hyeronimus rides Ciaron Maher’s Future History ($6) in the Christmas Cup and Elio ($3.50) in the Inglis Nursery for the Waterhouse-Bott stable.

“He’ll run the same race more often than not and is quite consistent,” he said of Future History.

“He’s in good shape and if things go my way throughout the run, we’ll definitely be hard to beat.

“Elio’s trials have been good and he’s shown good improvement off having a start at the races [when fourth in the Max Lees Classic]. I’d expect him to be very hard to beat.”