A bob each way for The Everest and Caulfield Cup
The brash $15m upstart or the history and tradition that stretches back more than 140 years.
The brash $15m upstart or the history and tradition that stretches back more than 140 years.
It is a raucous Royal Randwick with 11,000 spectators attending, pretty good in these COVID-19 times. Or it is a sadly empty yet noble Caulfield Racecourse in locked-down Melbourne’s genteel eastern suburbs.
Either way, racing in Sydney and Melbourne will make history on Saturday.
The Everest has captured the imagination of Sydney this week as the country’s best sprinters compete for the world’s richest race on turf. Down in Melbourne, it is the grandeur of the Caulfield Cup, one of great staying races and a jewel of the traditional Spring Carnival.
Up in Sydney, the talk has been about horses like Nature Strip. Is it really no good or will super trainer Chris Waller get it right on the day. There’s the correctly named Behemoth, owned by a bunch of battlers. Libertini, owned by John Singleton and “the brother I never had”, Gerry Harvey. The race oozes star power.
It will only be the fourth edition of The Everest, but punter interest seems headed its way, according to Sportsbet spokesman Rich Hummerston.
“At a race level, early money is running about 50 per cent higher on The Everest than the Caulfield Cup, though we expect that to flatten out by Saturday with world-class racing in Melbourne and Sydney,” he said.
Royal Randwick threw open its doors on Thursday night, as the racing world’s big names — from former Inglis chief executive Mark Webster to Black Caviar owners Neil and Jill Werritt and champion trainer Anthony Cummings and his wife Bernadette — to celebrate ahead of the race. At Caulfield, the Melbourne Racing Club will make the best of the situation given the ongoing Victorian lockdown that will limit numbers on track to jockeys, trainers and associated participants and some media.
In television terms at least, The Everest at 4.15pm will act as a curtain-raiser for the Caulfield Cup an hour later as both will be telecast on Network Seven.
MRC chief executive Josh Blanksby said punters watching at home will be attracted by the sheer quality of the field for his 2400m handicap race. “The top weight (Irish stayer) Anthony Van Dyck is the best credentialed horse to ever run in a Caulfield Cup over its 143-year history,” he said.
“It will be surreal but it is happening, we’re on and it will look good on TV for sure.”
Someone who has a foot in both camps is Waller, who will train Nature Strip and Haut Brion Her in The Everest and has three chances in the Caulfield Cup, including favourite Verry Elleegant.
“That’s what it’s like most Saturdays for us. You’ve got runners in Sydney and Melbourne and potentially elsewhere,” says the man who trained the legendary Winx and won The Everest last year with Yes Yes Yes.
Which big race matter’s to Waller more though? His answer is diplomatic: “I don’t care to be honest. I do care about both, but I don’t care about one over the other.”
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