Joe Pride has had a tremendous spring and he hopes it isn’t over yet.

Fresh from capturing the $1 million The Hunter with Coal Crusher, Joe Pride will look to parlay his success into the next provincial feature on the spring calendar.

The in-form trainer is keen to back-up Estadio Mestalla in next weekend's The Gong (1600m) following the gelding's eye-catching sixth behind his stablemate at Newcastle on Saturday.

"Estadio Mestalla was super coming down the outside late," Pride said of his Hunter performance.

"He'll run in The Gong.

"He's got a very good record on the back-up."

Estadio Mestalla competed at the corresponding Kembla Grange meeting 12 months ago, failing to make the cut for The Gong but winning a benchmark-88, mile race on the undercard.

Similarly, Coal Crusher won a 1300m benchmark race on The Hunter program in 2022 before returning to claim his first win in the main event a year later and Pride was optimistic Estadio Mestalla could follow suit.

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

"Which is what Coal Crusher did before her won The Hunter. He won the benchmark race on the same day."

Capturing the Listed Winter Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill in July, Estadio Mestalla showed he had returned in great order with a surprise first-up victory over 1100m at Randwick on Melbourne Cup Day, a journey over which he hadn't previously won.

Pride was rapt with his Hunter effort and hoped he could continue a stellar November for the stable in which Ceolwulf won the Group 1 Champions Mile (1600m) at Flemington last Saturday week, and Coal Crusher The Hunter (1300m) seven days later.

Estadio Mestalla was one 35 entries for The Gong with defending champion Gringotts, his Ciaron Maher-trained stablemate Duke De Sessa headlining the list of potential rivals.