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.
Adam Hyeronimus.Credit: Getty Images
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.
