After a rocky start, Schiller eyes first group 1 double with team Hawkes (2025)

Nearly two years ago, Tyler Schiller wasn’t sure his combination with the Hawkes stable would work out.

After a fruitless start riding their horses, Schiller remembers telling co-trainer Michael Hawkes before a ride in July 2023, “If I don’t win on this, can you not put me on again?”

Luckily, it did.

The team scored a group 1 win in the $3 million TJ Smith Stakes with Briasa two weeks ago and will chase a top-level double on Saturday at Randwick in the final meeting of the Sydney autumn carnival. Briasa was a $3.90 Sportsbet favourite for the $1.5 million All Aged Stakes (1400m), while Nepotism was $3.60 for the $1 million Champagne Stakes (1600).

“They started putting me on as an apprentice, I think when I was still claiming two or one-and-a-half kilos,” Schiller said of his link with Michael, John and Wayne Hawkes.

“Initially, we didn’t click that well, I thought. I think it was about my first 20 rides for them, I couldn’t ride a winner, and I came out on Petulant one day at Rosehill, and that was my first winner for them.

‘I’d love to have a chance at it, being the biggest sprint race in Australia, and it’s pretty lucrative.’

Tyler Schiller on Briasa’s Everest hopes

“I said to Michael before the race, ‘If I don’t win on this, can you not put me on again? Because it’s just not working’.

“He said, ‘nah, just stick at it mate’, and then she came out and won it, and I think she won two in a row, and it just sort of kept the ball rolling, and it started to click from there. It’s been really good.”

He said the backing of the Hawkes’, especially Hall of Fame trainer John, has been important in his rise to an established rider in town.

“If you have no cattle, you can’t keep rolling, so it’s definitely been great to get a bit of support,” he said.

“It was probably more at the time Joe Pride, Brad Widdup, Annabel Neasham, and then the Hawkes are there as well now. It keeps rolling.

“I see John every morning when we’re going for trackwork. He’s very good to run over rides with. Even if they’re not their horses, he’s happy to tell me if I did something wrong or something I can improve on, so it’s always good to have someone there that’s still sort of kicking up for you and trying to get you to improve.”

The TJ Smith win was Schiller’s fourth group 1 success, and his second biggest after last year’s Doncaster Mile victory with Celestial Legend. It also put him in position for a first ride in the $20 million The Everest in October at Randwick. Briasa is yet to secure a slot, but he sits on the third line of betting at $8.

“I’d love to have a chance at it, being the biggest sprint race in Australia, and it’s pretty lucrative. Hopefully, we get there,” Schiller said.

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On Saturday, Briasa faces the step-up to 1400m for the first time. The four-year-old Smart Missile gelding has won seven of nine starts, but his longest trip so far has been his victory in the $1 million The Hunter at 1300m last November at Newcastle. He drew well in gate four of 14 for the All Aged.

“He’s got two runs under his belt now, and I think, off his Hunter win sitting wide, he should be able to run 1400 easy,” Schiller said.

“Just put him in a spot where he can travel, and it’ll probably depend on barriers how close we are.

“He’s big and strong, so I wouldn’t put it past him [to win at 1400m]. He’s mentally there, he’s definitely a real racehorse, and he loves winning, so hopefully everything lines up.”

Nepotism is another last-start winner for the combination, after taking out the group 3 Baillieu (1400m) on a heavy Rosehill track on April 1 at his second start. The Brutal colt drew out wide on Wednesday.

“This race looks like a good one for it, given there’s a few that have, through the carnival, have gone for a spell,” Schiller said.

“It looks like a horse that will appreciate a bit further. [Baillieu runner-up] Savvy Hallie’s come out and run second on the weekend in the Percy Sykes, so it’s franked the form.

“He’s got to make the jump up to the mile, but he’s definitely a nice enough colt to do so.

“Buffalo and State Visit, they’ve obviously come out and performed over the 1400 [in the Sires Produce] as well, but it’ll just be interesting to see where the stronger form is, whether it’s through Nepotism’s race or the Sires.”

Schiller also rides Swiftfalcon for the Hawkes in the Frank Packer Plate, Chris Waller-trained Scarlet Oak in the JRA Plate, John O’Shea and Tom Charlton’s More Territories in the Carr Stakes and General Salute for the Ryan-Alexiou stable in the Hall Mark Stakes.