The Everest 2023 LIVE: All the races and fashion from the $20 million race

When the horses thundered past the finishing post in last year’s The Everest in front of a Royal Randwick moshpit belting out Sweet Caroline, a thought popped into the head of one trainer: how do we win it next year?

Peter Snowden’s horse, Mazu, had just run third in the world’s richest race on turf, banking $1.4 million for his trouble. But there was a kicker: he was the only horse guaranteed a start in the 2023 race the moment all his rivals went back to the stalls after the 2022 event.

For the last year, The Everest slotholders, each of whom fork out $700,000 to nominate a horse for the race, have been wheeling and dealing with owners of the best sprinting horses to lock in a runner for the $20 million sprint. Mazu’s connections have had no such trouble under a two-year deal with slotholder Arrowfield Stud and The Star, the first of its kind in The Everest.

“The luxury of that is you don’t have to have your horse wound up too early,” Snowden says. “Everyone else is trying to get a slot and have their horse as good as they can six or eight weeks out. They’re trying to show them off. It’s very hard to get a horse to peak.”

So, how long does it take to get a horse ready for The Everest? And what is a trainer actually wanting to do to have their charge at their absolute best at Royal Randwick on Saturday?

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