The Flemington clock tower; the school which straddles the side of Moonee Valley; the climb up Caulfield’s back straight: there are all types of landmarks on Australia’s famous tracks where jockeys can make or break a race.
But The Everest is different. At $20 million, it’s a straight out need for speed, the fastest horses in Australia rumbling around the turn and up the famous Royal Randwick rise, the little incline in the track as they charge towards the winning post.
That doesn’t mean there are not some tactics involved – and this year’s race shapes as the most open edition since the concept began in 2017.
Joliestar ($6) edged I Wish I Win ($6.50) as favourite with Sportsbet on Wednesday night, part of five horses under double figure odds.
So, how will this year’s race be run?
What happens at the start?
Storm Boy could make the speed in The Everest.Credit: Getty Images
You’d love to have a line into Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott’s Tulloch Lodge, who look to hold the key to how The Everest will be run on Saturday with a couple of on-speed horses in Storm Boy and Lady Of Camelot.
But perhaps more significantly, how will Storm Boy step from the gates?
The stable have adopted a lead-at-all-costs attitude in all three of his runs this spring, but the colt has been slowly away out of the barriers in both The Run To The Rose and Golden Rose. It’s forced his jockey Adam Hyeronimus, who will be replaced by Brenton Avdulla for The Everest because Hyeronimus can’t ride at 53kg, to aggressively ride the horse to make up the early ground.
Barrier five, on face value, should be a sweet draw for Storm Boy, but it does present problems.
If Storm Boy had been launching from one of the outside gates, it would allow him time to carve across the face of the field if he was a little tardy at barrier rise. But from five, there’s little room for error because early pacesetters Growing Empire (gate seven) and I Am Me (gate one) can squeeze Storm Boy in the first 100 metres and leave him trailing.
That trio look to be the horses which will lead the field into the straight.
Are three-year-olds the secret recipe?
It’s only a small sample size, but there’s a growing feeling three-year-olds are the ideal target for slot-holders when choosing a horse for The Everest with Yes Yes Yes (2019) and Giga Kick (2022) previous winners.
Under the weight-for-age conditions, colts carry just 53kg and fillies 51kg. It means trainers generally want to make use of the light weight and let their horses, if capable, free wheel near the front of the field.
This year there will be a quartet of three-year-olds in The Everest – Storm Boy, Traffic Warden, Growing Empire and Lady Of Camelot.
Storm Boy and Growing Empire will be ridden aggressively, but Lady Of Camelot is a query runner after drawing the second outside barrier (11) at Tuesday night’s spectacular.
Bott suggested Lady Of Camelot had shown versatility when winning the Golden Slipper earlier this year coming from behind the leaders, perhaps a pointer to how she will be ridden by jockey Rachel King. Expect Lady Of Camelot to let stablemate Storm Boy take up the running.
How will the track play?
Sydney’s perpetually fickle weather has punters wary of how the Royal Randwick track will play.
The moveable inside rail will be back in the true position, meaning it’s as close to the winning post as possible, using a fresh pad of grass on the inside lanes.
But history suggests Royal Randwick can disadvantage horses towards the inside when the track is wet, with punters to eagerly watch the earlier races before The Everest jumps as the seventh event at 4.15pm.
It could be particularly vital for Bella Nipotina, one of the favoured starters who has been given the extreme outside gate (12) and looks certain to be covering ground away from the fence.
But if the track is not favouring those hemmed towards the rail, horses like Bella Nipotina, I Wish I Win (barrier nine) and Private Eye (barrier 10) could be suited in the middle lanes of the straight.
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