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Important update on 1476AMHawkes: Everest triumph still a possibility for Briasa
Connor Scanlon • April 6th, 2026 5:23 pm
Briasa burst onto the scene early in his career, winning his first seven out of nine races, including the Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) in 2025.
But since that Group 1 victory the son of Smart Missile has only won a single race from his next six starts – that being the Group 2 Premiere Stakes (1200).
Despite this, the five-year-old still ranks as one of Australia’s top-end sprinters, especially with Joliestar locking in a European trip to Royal Ascot and three-year-old colt Tentyris potentially retiring to stud soon.
When asked if Briasa can win The Everest, co-trainer Wayne Hawkes was confident that his grey could win the $20 million sprint under the right circumstances.
“Yeah, he can,” Hawkes told SENTrack & RSN’s Giddy Up.
“Because he was unlucky not to have won The Galaxy (finished fourth) on the shifty track, and then he didn't handle the wet track on Saturday (in the TJ Smith).
“All of a sudden, you go, ‘Well, Joliestar’s not there anymore, Tentyris, let's make it up, he's retired. Something else doesn't happen, another one goes amiss.’
“Mate, we don't have a flock of massive sprinters that are coming through.”
The trainer even went as far to say that the 2025 Everest winner from Hong Kong, Ka Ying Rising, could lose if the gelding draws an outside barrier and gets caught out wide.
“If Ka Ying Rising draws barrier 12, and gets caught three-wide, he won’t win The Everest either,” Michael & John Hawkes’ co-trainer stated.
“If Ka Ying Rising draws the outside barrier and has a shocker in the run, he hasn’t got laps on these horses to be able to beat them.
“You see it in the lesser grades where they can be caught wide and do a bit of work and get away with it, but not at the top level. They have to have the perfect run to win.”
However, the trainer admitted that he will be scratching the grey from the 2026 Everest, if the track condition ends up being a heavy.
“Mate, if (the track) turns up a (heavy) 8 on Everest day, he'll be getting scratched,” Hawkes revealed.
“We're not going to running him again on a wet track because why do you want to waste him?
“This is a horse that can keep running around for the next two years.”
Briasa ran eighth from a field of 12 horses in the 2025 Everest and is currently a $21 outsider with Sportsbet to win the $20 million race this year.
Ka Ying Rising is the $1.55 favourite to go back-to-back in world’s richest sprint on turf.
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