Coolmore Australia boss Tom Magnier threatened to get champion trainers Gai Waterhouse and Chris Waller together to fight over which of the stud’s star colts – Storm Boy or Switzerland – would represent the global racing giant’s slot in The Everest at Randwick on Saturday.
Coolmore holds the final undecided slot in the $20 million race. Waterhouse announced last week that Storm Boy would be in The Everest, but Switzerland could have got under his guard for the slot at Rosehill.
Nash Rawiller pushes Switzerland out to the post in the Roman Consul Stakes.Credit: Getty Images
Magnier hasn’t rushed the announcement, and the sight of the Waller-trained Switzerland ripping home to take Saturday’s Roman Consul Stakes explained why.
“He has given us something to think about after that win. We’ll sit down tomorrow morning and have a chat with the lads,” Magnier said. “We don’t have to make a decision until Tuesday.
“What I would like to do is get Gai and Chris in a room together to fight it out.”
Waller was delighted to see former star two-year-old Switzerland ($6) return to winning form. Nash Rawiller drove him through on the inside to score by two lengths from favourite Coleman ($3.30) with Yoshinobu ($26) a head away in third.
“We had Yes Yes Yes in it and he won it. And this horse is every bit as good as Yes Yes Yes,” Waller said.
Coolmore boss Tom Magnier was a happy man after the win.Credit: Getty Images
But asked about getting into a battle with Waterhouse for the slot, he said: “I don’t think I would win that argument. Gai would be much better at that than me. I think Switzerland can win the Coolmore, but if they run him in The Everest he wouldn’t disgrace himself.
“He needed that run and will improve for his next run.”
Waterhouse wasn’t on track at Rosehill and her training partner Adrian Bott, who was, adopted a similar line to Waller.
“Gai would be much better at that than I am,” Bott said. “Storm Boy is going really well and is ready to go for The Everest.”
Switzerland was within 0.1 seconds of King’s Gambit’s race record and left jockey Nash Rawiller believing there was more to come and he would like to stick with him.
“I couldn’t believe they went that quick. It was a surprise to me. We were able to take advantage of that and not get too far out of our ground but still travel in a beautiful rhythm,” Rawiller said.
“I had a lot of horse underneath me by the time we got to the furlong.”
“He’s got a real x-factor about him.”
Coolmore has already booked Hong Kong-based Brenton Avdulla to ride for them in The Everest.
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