Joe Pride will waste no time aiming for another provincial feature after snaring the $1 million The Hunter with Coal Crusher, confirming plans to back up Estadio Mestalla in next weekend’s edition of The Gong (1600m).

The gelding finished an eye-catching sixth at Newcastle behind his stablemate, storming home late out wide in a run that immediately convinced Pride to push on.

“Estadio Mestalla was super coming down the outside late,” Pride said.

“He’ll run in The Gong.

“He’s got a very good record on the back-up.”

Estadio Mestalla competed at the same Kembla Grange meeting last year, narrowly missing a start in The Gong before claiming a benchmark-88 mile race on the support card. Coal Crusher followed a similar path, winning a 1300m benchmark event on The Hunter program in 2022 before returning 12 months later to land the feature itself.

Pride believes Estadio Mestalla can mirror that progression.

“He missed out last year and he won the consolation with about 62 kilos,” Pride said.

“Which is what Coal Crusher did before he won The Hunter. He won the benchmark race on the same day.”

Already a Listed winner of the Winter Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill in July, Estadio Mestalla indicated he had returned in career-best touch when scoring first-up over 1100m at Randwick on Melbourne Cup Day—a distance at which he had never previously succeeded.

Pride said the stable was enjoying a dream run this month, highlighted by Ceolwulf’s Group 1 Champions Mile (1600m) victory and Coal Crusher’s triumph in The Hunter (1300m) just a week apart.

Estadio Mestalla is among 35 nominations for The Gong, with defending champion Gringotts and his Ciaron Maher-trained stablemate Duke De Sessa listed among the key opponents.

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