Joe Pride keeps looking at the Concorde Stakes field and trying to work out what he has missed as Eduardo kicks off his Everest campaign at Randwick on Saturday.
As much as $3.20 was bet about Pride’s flying machine in early markets, a price that has trimmed to a more realistic $1.80 for the 1000m group 3 dash which starts the $6 million Sprint Series surrounding The Everest.
Eduardo puts paid to Nature Strip in the Challenge Stakes in the autumn.Credit:Getty
“I have never looked at a race so many times trying to work out what I have missed,” Pride said.
“I thought the pressure what be on because he would be so short in the market, and I can’t work out why they bet that price about him. He is going good.”
The evergreen Eduardo is now a nine-year-old but is lightly raced with only 27 starts for 11 wins and more than $6 million in prizemoney.
He has never been beaten first-up in Sydney since joining Pride’s stable, and his only defeat resuming was behind Home Affairs and Nature Strip in the Lightning Stakes earlier in the year when he wasn’t at home down the Flemington straight. When he returned to Sydney, he won a second Challenge Stakes over 1000m at Randwick beating Nature Strip.
“This is a horse that has shown he can beat Nature Strip over 1000m and holds the course record at Randwick,” Pride said. “If he runs to the figures he has at his last couple of preparations, there is no horse in this race that gets near him.
“They would all have to run a significant PB to beat him.
“He is really good wet or dry, but sometimes you just doubt yourself. I expect him to run his usual race and be very hard to beat.
“It is the start of the preparation and the money is so good in this race. It’s worth half a million, so there is a little more pressure there.”
Eduardo has already been chosen by Yulong for its Everest slot and will have another run before the day Pride is focused on next month.
There has been some of the opinion that Eduardo has not been impressive at the barrier trials, but Pride is never one for leaving a run on the trial tracks and has preferred to keep him away from the group horses in his jump-outs.
“He’s a horse who doesn’t need much pressure put on him to get him fit, and I don’t need him trialling against the kind of horses that maybe want to match motors with him until there’s some prizemoney involved, and then I’m happy to match motors with them,” Pride said.
Eduardo will have the company of the speedy Malkovich early on in the Concorde will should have too much power for him when Nash Rawiller asks to rev up his big motor in the straight.
Godolphin sprinter Andermatt has been well-supported by punters and has come in to $5 but is coming out of benchmark company.
Masked Crusader, which is another that holds a slot in the Everest, is a $9 chance and should be charging home late in his usual style but is better suited over further than 1000m.
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