The TAB Everest

THE Joseph Pride-trained Think About It has capped his exceptional rise with an emphatic victory in the A$20 million Everest over Randwick’s 1,200 metres last Saturday.

Sam Clipperton stalked the leaders in the run, settling the So You Think five-year-old gelding ‘one-out and one-back’ in the run before taking the bend-three wide.

Looming the winner a long way out, Think About It surged to the lead with 150 metres left to stay clear, winning by a half-length as the Savabeel gelding I Wish I Win challenged late to grab second ahead of the winner’s stablemate, the Al Maher gelding Private Eye.

By winning Australia’s richest race, Think About It, the $4.40 race favourite, took his current streak to nine wins with an overall record of 11 victories from 12 starts and boosting his earnings to over $10.97 million having been purchased for $70,000 from the Inglis Melbourne Premier yearling sale.

“I don’t think I’ll feel pressure anymore in any race after that,” said Pride. “You feel like Edmund Hillary, once you climb Mount Everest, what do you do after that? I’d love to climb it again but it’s not going to feel as hard next time. It was a week I promised myself I was going to try to enjoy, and I can’t say I did, but I’ll enjoy this.”

No stranger to big race wins, Pride described himself feeling calm and confident, he had both his horses in ideal condition. “This horse is amazing. He has never found a hurdle too high. It’s going to be a really interesting journey with him and where we go from here.”

On board for his nine consecutive wins has been Sam Clipperton, starting off in Benchmark 72 at Warwick Farm in January and picking up Group 1 wins in the Kingsford-Smith Cup and Stradbroke Handicap along the way.

Privileged

“I’m just so privileged to be in a position of riding this horse,” said Clipperton. “I had my apprenticeship here at Randwick with Ron Quinton and I know every blade of grass at this joint. If you had told me when I started that I was going to win an Everest, well The Everest didn’t exist and now it’s exploded into one of the most incredible races in the world.

“I’m just incredibly proud. I was visualising this since he won The Premiere. I just thought he’s got too many gears they won’t beat him. I couldn’t say that out loud but that’s what I felt and he’s just proven me right.”

NZ$10 million Everest postscript

One lucky New Zealand punter has won an incredible NZ$10 million by successfully selecting all 12 Everest runners in their finishing order.

The punter was the sole winner of a promotion run by the New Zealand TAB, the odds for which were an incredible 1 in 479,001,600. Insurance will cover the cost of the payout, the premiums for which will be heading north next year!

The Everest is here to stay

EVEREST day, the original ‘carnival disrupter’ inaugurated in 2017 is dwarfing most racedays in the country, many placing it next to the Melbourne Cup as an event.

On Saturday, a record crowd of 46,498 attended, most of whom joined in the on-course karaoke of Sweet Caroline, minutes before the Everest jump. The lack of ‘blacktype’ race prestige matters little.

Run in conjunction with Caulfield Guineas Day, the prize money offered at Randwick, not including the Everest, was $11.61 million, at Caulfield, with three Group 1 races on the card, total stakes were a stark $6.47 million in comparison.

It’s no contest; record crowds, world pool betting, over $30 million in stakes, a booth to have your picture taken with the day’s two major trophies, a concert 10 minutes after the last in the parade ring, the Everest is here to stay.

Too much

When too much prize money is not enough! Everest day at Randwick also hosted the $2 million The Kosciuszko over 1,200 metres for country-trained horses, which was won by the Matthew Dale-trained Front Page. Also, over 1,200 metres was the $2 million Sydney Stakes won by the I Am Invincible mare I Am Me for the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace team, while the Chris Waller-trained Snitzel filly Vienna Princess took out the $1 million Silver Eagle over 1,300 metres.

King Charles III Stakes (Group 1)

THE Sebring mare Fangirl, trained by Chris Waller, has collected the largest cheque of her career, taking out the inaugural running of the A$5 million King Charles III Stakes over 1,600 metres at Randwick.

Sporting the famous cerise colours of the Ingham family, Fangirl, winner of the Group 1 Winx Strakes two starts back, pushed aside the race favourite Mr Brightside at the top of the straight to work her way into the clear, charge to the front, and post a three-length win in no uncertain circumstances.

The Bullbars gelding Mr Brightside was second with the Irish-bred My Oberon, by Dubawi, producing a big run at generous odds, in third.

Flying

“Fangirl’s been flying at home, I haven’t seen her go any better at home, she trialled with all those Everest horses and she could have almost gotten a slot given how well she went against them,” said jockey James McDonald. “She’s a really good horse. With certain conditions, she’s really hard to beat.”

The King Charles III Stakes was identified by trainer Chris Waller as Fangirl’s target since its announcement.

“I was driving to the event in London where Racing New South Wales was going to announce the King Charles and I had John Ingham, a part-owner of Fangirl, in the car,” said Waller. “I told him I think we can win this race with the mare.”

Thoughts now switch to the Cox Plate for the mare though Waller is circumspect.

“My heart tells me the Cox Plate with Fangirl but I have to check what I think of the distance,” added Waller.

Neds Caulfield Guineas (Group 1)

SHOOTING forward from the outside barrier of 15, the Trapeze Artist colt Griff led all the way to win the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas in a 30/1 boilover.

The least fancied of Ciaron Maher and David Eustace’s four runners looked to be a sitting duck on the bend but found plenty to win by nearly two lengths, a margin that saved him a protest against, having veered out approaching the line.

Second was the Grunt colt Veight ahead of the previously unbeaten Artie Schiller colt Steparty with Johnny Allen in the saddle.

“The ride was just extraordinary,” said David Eustace of Ben Melham’s effort. “He had a plan and rode to it and got the result. Fantastic.”

An $80,000 Inglis Melbourne Premier yearling, Griff is the first Group 1 winner for the Snitzel horse Trapeze Artist, a Golden Rose winner, in this, his fourth win from eight starts.

Neds Might And Power (Group 1)

THE Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Alligator Blood took a ‘bloodless’ Might And Power Stakes win at Caulfield to claim his seventh Group 1 in his 15th win overall from 33 starts.

The win was the All Too Hard gelding’s first at 2,000 metres and has him primed for a Cox Plate tilt.

“I think he’s going to be awfully hard to beat in the Cox Plate,” said Waterhouse. “He’s just so strong and determined and when he gets up and rolling he’s just so hard to run down.”

Second was the 2019 Melbourne Cup winner Vow And Declare, on track for a fourth Cup run, while third was the three-time Group 1-winning Shamus Award mare Duais.

Toorak Handicap (Group 1)

TRAINER Mitchell Freedman claimed an unusual double at the weekend. He trained his first Group 1 winner, Attrition, in the Toorak Handicap over 1,600 metres at Caulfield, and then completed the Melbourne Marathon the day after in the handy time of 3hrs 21mins.

And just for the record, he is no relation to hall-of-famer Lee Freedman. Attrition, the first Australian Group 1 winner for the Irish-bred Churchill, won by a nose from the Redwood gelding Antino and the Mongolian Khan gelding Bankers Choice.

“I’ve had, I think, three seconds in Group 1s before today and it is so good to get over the line because we have been nutted a few times,” said Freedman.

“We always knew he was up to the level. We thought we’d take the bull by the horns today. We knew we had to be in the race and put him in a spot.”

New Zealand

Livamol Classic (Group 1)

THE Allan Sharrock-trained Ladies Man has won the Group 1 Livamol Classic at Hastings in New Zealand.

Run over 2,040 metres with Ryan Elliot up, the Zed gelding won by a length from the Redwood gelding Platinum Invador and the Tavistock mare Pearl Of Alsace. Ladies Man holds a Melbourne Cup entry.

“I guess we’ve got to go now,” said Sharrock. “He’ll probably have just the one more run before the Cup, in that race on the Saturday before it that Bart Cummings used to use (the 2,500 metre Group 3 Lexus Archer Stakes).

“He’s done enough. We’ll come up a little bit short of Bart’s famous 10,000 kilometres, but only marginally. He’s doing very well.”