Super mare Bella Nipotina wins $20m Everest after late drama

Super mare Bella Nipotina has taken out the $20 million Everest at Randwick racecourse, but not before late drama in Sydney.

Super mare Bella Nipotina has won the $20 million Everest at Randwick racecourse, bravely holding off a fast-finishing and 2022 winner Giga Kick.

The race wasn’t without any late drama though, with three-year-old and one of the race favourites in Traffic Warden scratched at the gates after playing up in the barriers.

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Ridden by Craig Williams, who partnered Giga Kick two years ago, Bella Nipotina hit the front halfway down the straight and had to hold off a late flurry from the runner up. Trainer Ciaron Maher saddled up the winner and the third-placed Growing Empire.

Maher praised the ride from Williams, who elected to roll forward from the widest barrier and take his medicine and sit three wide to avoid trouble.

Bella Nipotina wins the Everest

“We thought she was in career-best form. She got her conditions to suit,” Maher said.

“We said at the barrier draw she’s got an uncanny knack of running very well from any gate, wide, inside, it doesn’t matter.

“Craig, beautiful ride, to have the balls to do that … I can’t thank my team enough.”

Veteran broadcaster Bruce McAvaney said on Channel 7 it may have been “the best Everest yet”.

“Magnificent race. Incredible, classic run up the straight between two wonderful horses,” McAvaney said.

Channel 7 horse racing expert Katelyn Mallyon added: “She is simply breathtaking this mare. She is the most genuine mare I’ve ever seen.

“From drawing a barrier like that to be able to three-wide the trip and still fight on, a horse that had all that up the inside with Giga Kick, she deserves all of these accolades.”

Originally published as Super mare Bella Nipotina wins $20m Everest after late drama