Photo: Racing and Sports Australia
Everest, the world’s highest 1,200-meter sprint race on grass with a prize money of over €9.7 million, was held for the sixth time last Saturday at the Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. Australia has been known for years for breeding and raising the best runners in the world. In 2017, “The Everest” was organized to honor these runners. The race was sponsored by Tab (Australia recognized betting group) with huge prize money. It has not (yet) qualified as a Group 1 race, but the horse that wins this race is followed with interest around the world.
12 runners got off and for coach Clayton Douglas, 27, who used to be an obstacle course rider and jockey, the day couldn’t have gone wrong when three-year-old Giga Kick (Scissor Kick x Rekindled Applause) conquered Nature Streep. The towering favourite, who was defeated by this race last year. Giga Kick won for Private Eye and Mazu and Nature Strip came in fourth.
Douglas “Giga Kick has won all five starts so far and so is the real star and could become the next Nature Stripper” Jockey Craig Williams won the Melbourne Grand Prix with Everest, Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Golden Slipper, and his Giga Kick win makes him the first rider to win a Grand Slam He also wins the richest race in Australia.
Durston won the $5 million Carlton Dust Caulfield Cup
The first meeting of the Melbourne Spring Carnival took place last Saturday at Caulfield Racecourse (Melbourne). There was a $5 million prize pool in the main race, the Caufield Cup. This group that ran for 2,400m had 20 rookies and Durston was the first to be suspended on the reserve roster if a horse was dropped. After his coach Maximal pulled out, Durston was added to the field.
Just before the race, Makram was pulled over and so he eventually started 19 horses. Six-year-old Durston (Sea The Moon x Caribana) from Highclere Thoroughbred Australia ltd, a union that sells multiple shares per horse and each horse has multiple owners, has won the Gold Trip and Knights Order and has an automatic ticket to the Melbourne Cup next November 1. Because of winning the Caufield Cup, Durston was given an extra two kilos of weight by the hand trainer to carry him into the Melbourne Cup, but coach Chris Waller doesn’t really care.
Waller “Dorston is in such good shape that we are looking forward to competing in the Melbourne Cup with confidence. Jockey Michael D rode it fantastically and saved every extra meter and that means you can win or lose the race.”
Very Elegant
Durston’s win was Waller’s second Caulfield Cup win in the past three years. In 2020, Verry Elleegant won this race for Waller. The seven-year-old mare, who was swapped by her owners from Waller Stable for Graphard in Europe last year and was due to prepare for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, has been sorely disappointed in her race in France. The mare, who won 11 Group 1s in Australia, including the Melbourne Cup last year, and more than $14.8 million in prize money, will go to the breed.
Source: press release / Horses.nl
