Almost 10 months on, The Everest field is complete … almost. The ultimate game of cat and mouse will finally end after almost a year of intrigue when Godolphin nominates the 12th and final contender for this year’s race early next week.
For an event unashamedly pitched as the ultimate disruptor, a sneaky announcement sliding into inboxes days before Christmas last year was breaking new ground. The partnership of Max Whitby, Neil Werrett and Col Madden had chosen to renew its faith in Masked Crusader, second in last year’s race behind Nature Strip, and thought, “Why wait?”
Nature Strip proved too strong for his opponents in last year’s Everest.Credit:Getty Images
So for the 2022 race, they locked in a horse in the final days of 2021. And since then, the rest of the 12 slotholders have harassed and haggled, bickered and brokered until Australia’s best sprinters were confirmed for the $15 million The Everest at Royal Randwick next Saturday.
That is, all of them except Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Godolphin Australia empire. They will wait until almost the last possible moment to choose which one of their horses will race in the famous blue colours as the last runner in the world’s richest turf race.
Will it be racing’s pantomime villain, Kementari, a once young horse who had a harem of mares in his future only to have fertility problems and reinvent himself back at the track as an older gelding? Or will it be gun stallion Paulele, whose CV needs only a group 1 or equivalent race like The Everest to be complete? Or is it Maybe In Secret, the fine filly and find of the spring?
Only one thing is for sure – they’re making everyone sweat.
In the early days of The Everest concept, slotholders were willing to wait long into the spring carnival before settling on a horse to represent them. Now, with an established core of topline sprinters headed by Nature Strip, it’s a scramble to find the fastest lawyers to seal a deal.
Masked Crusader went before Christmas last year. Nature Strip in April. Rising star Mazu went a couple of weeks later in a two-year deal. It was only mid-winter when Eduardo and Lost And Running were sorted. Those five occupy the top six positions in betting a week out.
The rest of the slotholders have made peace with their choices as the spring carnival rumbles on.
But can they stop the world’s best sprinter Nature Strip from waltzing back to scale again to the tune of Sweet Caroline?
Ask trainer Joe Pride, who will saddle up two runners in this year’s race, Eduardo and the 11th-hour addition Private Eye, and he’s content no-one is talking about Nature Strip’s old sparring partner Eduardo.
“I’m happy with that,” he said. “We can just keep forgetting about him. I love where he’s at and he’s trialled really nicely here [on Friday] morning. He’s in great order and I can’t wait to get him there next week.
“He’s one you don’t even have to look at the weather forecast, you just turn up with him. It would be fantastic [to beat Nature Strip in a grand final race].
“It could well be a case of last man standing. It’s funny, you’ve got Eduardo and Nature Strip and then you’ve got this other group that is wanting to be just right there behind them. That’s Mazu and Lost And Running.
“He’s got an amazing turn of foot and that won’t go astray off a hot tempo where all his best runs have come from that set-up. He won a Queensland Guineas, an Epsom and even the other day he ran well off good genuine speed.”
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