Three weeks out from The Everest, only three of the 12 places are filled.
After Saturday at Rosehill, the list of horses chasing the other nine got longer in one case and less certain in another.
The Group 1 $20 million sprint (1200m) is at Randwick on Saturday, October 17, with $7 million to the winner.
Locked In: The Three Confirmed Runners
Ka Ying Rising (Hong Kong Jockey Club slot)
The defending champion is $1.35 favourite with Ladbrokes.
David Hayes’s Hong Kong star arrived in Sydney on Monday, September 21. He is doing two weeks of quarantine at Canterbury Park after extending his winning streak to 21 in a Sha Tin track-record run earlier this month.
Hayes told The Sydney Morning Herald the gelding is “conservatively 10 per cent better” than the horse who won last year’s Everest by a length and a quarter.
He will have one barrier trial at Randwick on October 6 under Zac Purton, and won’t race again before the big day.
Last year a flat third in his trial set off rumours about his condition, and Hayes said he spent around 10 days reassuring people. This time the trainer said he has asked more of him in the lead-up and expects a sharper trial.
Ninja (Fairway Thoroughbreds slot)
Michael Freedman’s four-year-old was the first challenger confirmed, through John Camilleri’s Fairway Thoroughbreds slot.
He was ninth first-up in The Shorts in a race dominated by the leaders.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports Freedman will run him in next Saturday’s Group 2 Premiere Stakes (1200m) as a final lead-up.
Headwall (Whitby, Werrett, Madden and McCann slot)
Matt Smith’s seven-year-old gives the trainer his first Everest runner.
Headwall was off for 12 months with a bone chip in a hind pastern, The Straight reported. Since returning he has run second to Tempted in the Concorde and fifth in The Shorts, beaten a length by Mazu.
Smith has said he is leaning towards the Premiere Stakes because Headwall needs the racing.
Ninja and Headwall are both $21 with Ladbrokes, according to races.com.au.
Blue Door Makes Her Pitch
The loudest bid for a slot came straight after Saturday’s Group 3 Heritage Stakes (1100m).
Bjorn Baker’s three-year-old filly Blue Door ($1.85) led all the way under Nash Rawiller and won by 2¼ lengths from Ciaron’s Star, with Outspan third.
She ran 1:02.64 and came home in 33.37 seconds for the last 600m, races.com.au reported.
It was her second stakes win from four starts, after she won the Kindergarten Stakes on debut.
Baker made his pitch to owner John Singleton on air. “Singo, are you there? I’d really like to take her to The Everest if you’re keen,” he said, as quoted by races.com.au.
His case is that at weight-for-age a light three-year-old filly with natural gate speed could change the shape of the race.
Rawiller went further. He said the filly reminded him of a smaller version of More Joyous, though he allowed that the colours might have something to do with it.
What’s not confirmed: Blue Door does not have a slot. No slot holder has publicly offered her one, and Singleton had not publicly committed when this story was written.
It was a big afternoon for Baker, who also won the Group 1 Golden Rose with Warwoven. He described an Everest run for the colt as “doubtful”.
Guest House: The Slot Question Nobody Has Answered
Before the Golden Rose, Guest House looked the most likely fourth runner.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported last week that Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr looked set to run the Golden Slipper winner in part-owner Coolmore’s slot, provided he fired again at Rosehill.
Kent told Racing NSW the decision would rest with Tom Magnier and the Coolmore team. He listed three options: The Everest, The Everest and then the Coolmore Stud Stakes, or straight to the Coolmore.
Guest House, the $2.45 favourite, finished sixth after a mid-race bump with St Gotthard.
Jockey Zac Lloyd said the colt got keen when the pace eased and the bump took “a bit of gas” out of him. He was confident before the race.
As of Sunday morning, we could find no confirmed decision from Coolmore or the stable on the slot.
The Rest of the Queue
These horses are being discussed for slots but have not been confirmed.
- Tempted (Ciaron Maher): Second to Ka Ying Rising last year. Idol Horse reports the Premiere Stakes will be her only run before The Everest.
- Joliestar (Chris Waller): Idol Horse reports she will go straight from her neck second in The Shorts to The Everest, in Waller’s own slot, as she did last year.
- Angel Capital (Chris Waller): Won the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke. Yulong racing manager Danny Rolston told The Thoroughbred Report that The Everest is “firmly in the discussion”, but the horse is not locked in.
- Mazu (Joseph Pride): Won The Shorts, but Pride has said publicly he would rather not go back to The Everest. The decision belongs to owners Triple Crown Syndications.
Sunday’s Manikato Is an Audition
Today’s Group 1 $2 million Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield (Race 8, 4.45pm AEST) has an Everest subplot.
Memsie winner Beiwacht is favourite as he drops back to 1200m. Idol Horse reads that as a sign Randwick is live for him.
Idol Horse reports Jimmysstar’s connections will choose between The Everest and the King Charles III Stakes based on the result. Oliveanotherday, whose five-race winning streak ended at his last start, also needs a big run.
Price has asked publicly whether a win by defending champion Charm Stone might open up a slot.
For the full field, see our free racing form guide.
Our View
Ka Ying Rising is still the one to beat, and the price reflects it.
The interest now lies in which slot holders take a chance on young speed, like Blue Door and possibly Guest House, and which play it safe with proven older sprinters. Next Saturday’s Premiere Stakes should settle several places.
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