The Everest
THE Everest is a new initiative from Racing NSW where 12 owners put up $600,000 each to make a prize pool worth $10 million. It will be run for the first time on October 14, 2017.
Held over 1200m at Randwick in October, The Everest was created in the hope of attracting international attention that would rival the success of the Melbourne spring carnival.
Due to the $10 million purse, The Everest is now the richest race in Australia, taking over from the Melbourne Cup, and also the richest race in the world ran on turf.
It’s yet to be seen if The Everest can scale the heights of Australian racing, but it should be an exciting and interesting betting contest.
The Everest bookmakers
Most bookmakers will have framed a prospect market for The Everest. Seeing as owners can sell their slots in the race, it’s hard to frame a definitive fixed odds market, but punters can still place an all-in bet months in advance.
The bookmakers listed below have either released markets and exotic markets, or will in the coming months.
CrownBet.com.au
Ladbrokes.com.au
Sportsbet.com.au
WilliamHill.com.au
Bet365.com
Palmerbet.com.au
Luxbet.com
2017 The Everest result
1st – Redzel ($8.60)
2nd – Vega Magic ($2)
3rd – Brave Smash ($5.30)
Redzel sat on the speed and was too good for its rivals in the inaugural Everest. The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained sprinter sat close to the speed set by Houtzen before taking over in the straight and holding off the challengers. Race favourite Vega Magic sprinted late with Japanese import Brave Smash, but it was Redzel which took the $10 million race in its first running ever at Randwick. Read race report.
Top international hopes
Acapulco is an American filly which has shown good promise in a limited career. The four-year-old won the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot before finishing second in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes behind Mecca’s Angel.
It returned home where it won back-to-back races at Turfway Park and Churchill Downs before running sixth last start at group three level.
It doesn’t appear to be on the same level as the Australian sprinters, but it has the right owners behind it and it should strengthen up nicely before possibly contesting The Everest at +3300 with Ladbrokes.com.au.
Lucky Bubbles is a classy gelding which has been pushing some of Hong Kong’s best sprinters close this season. The son of Sebring has rattled off three consecutive second placings and its second in the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint holds it in good stead for this.
Lucky Bubbles is finding it hard to win a race this campaign, but Hong Kong form stacks up nicely in Australia and we wouldn’t be surprised to see this talented five-year-old come to Randwick and take home the big prize.
Fellow Hong Kong runner Not Listenin’tome is a former Australian which should help its chances. Now with John Moore in Hong Kong, the six-year-old has experience at Randwick where it ran second in the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes which shapes up nicely ahead of October’s run.
It has mixed form this campaign, but John Moore will be eager to come over to Australia and show the locals how good the Hong Kong sprinters are.
Lady Aurelia is a globetrotting filly which won the 2016 Queen Mary Stakes before winning the Group 1 Prix Morny in France.
The Wesley Ward-trained American bred has subsequently finished third in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket and that form looks good for this. How its form stacks up against the Australian sprinters is uncertain, but the odds of $34 at Sportsbet is worth taking.
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