Kris Lees has just finished a record-breaking season and he can jump the blocks in the new term with in-form Mossman sprinter Burnt Bridges.

Burnt Bridges has won his last two on wet tracks and he swooped from last to score at Canterbury on July 25.  He can make it a hat-trick next time for Lees and his mother Vicki who bred the lightly-raced sprinter in partnership with Nick Moraitis.

“Mossman is probably one of the better stallions we’ve gone to,” Kris said.  “We only breed two or three a year and Burnt Bridges is quite a progressive horse.  He will win better races in his four-year-old season.”

Burnt Bridges helped Lees cap a memorable season.  He prepared his most number of winners in a season coupled with a new prizemoney benchmark and a sixth Newcastle premiership is also safely in his pocket.

And he put the icing on the cake by capturing the Max Lees Medal for the first time.  Named in honour of his late father, it is awarded annually by Newcastle Jockey Club to the trainer with the best strike rate over the season.

Vinery sire Mossman is also coming off another successful season that saw him sire 88 individual winners of 152 races for $4.53 million in prizemoney.  He sired 5 stakes winners headed by the Group 1 winners Buffering (MVRC Moir Stakes) and Plucky Belle (ATC Coolmore Classic).

While his carnival stars are building up for the spring, Mossman’s off-season sprinters are already making a mark this season.  Moss’n Time stretched his winning streak to 7 in a row in the $135,000 Palmerston Sprint in Darwin on Saturday and Harry Hotspur was a first-up winner of the Bengalla Cup at Muswellbrook on Sunday.

Mossman (Success Express) will stand for a $27,500 (inc gst) fee at Vinery this year.

BURNT BRIDGES