Billed as the ‘world’s richest race on turf’ with twelve of the fastest horses competing over a distance of 1200 metres at Randwick Racecourse for a grand total of $15 million.
In what will be the fourth time the relatively new event is held, the Everest has grown in popularity becoming the showcase event of Sydney’s Spring Racing Carnival which in an eight week period, provides a mammoth $25 million in prize money. Due to the growth of Everest, Sydney’s Spring Racing Carnival now only stands second to the Melbourne Cup in terms of profile.
Held in 2017 for the first time at Randwick, the event was initially won by Redzel, trained by Peter and Paul Snowden who then went on to secure the win in 2018. Yes Yes Yes took out the top prize in 2019, which leaves the question, which horse will reign supreme come the 17th of October?
With the final field confirmed on the 14th of October, determined from prior race results, the bookies are keeping their cards firmly against their chest. However the confirmed runners to date (7 October) include the favourite in Nature Strip followed by Gytrash, Classique Legend and Rothfire.
The Everest was the brain-child of Racing NSW CEO Peter V’landys and was modeled off the US race, the Pegasus World Cup.
“The concept of the race is there are 12 slot holders who each forked out $600,000 to pick their own runner to line up in the 1200 metre weight-for-age race for three-year-olds and upwards which carries a whopping $15 million in prize money. Those positions are able to be traded, sold, available for joint venture or lease prior to entry date.
The slot holders identify a horse, they then do a prize money split deal with the horse’s owners and trainers, sign a three-year slot holder contract and then they’re in the game.”
It’s the epitome of luxury and horse racing combined, with the very best of Australian and international horse racing on show.
CONFIRMED RUNNERS
Nature Strip (Trained by: Chris Waller)
Gytrash (Trained by: Gordon Richards)
Classique Legend (Trained by: Les Bridge)
Rothfire (Trained by: Robert Heathcote)