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Private Eye looms as prime candidate for The Everest as Snapdancer’s ruled out

Slot-holders Inglis and James Harron Bloodstock make enquiries about Gilgai winner

Dominant Gilgai Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Private Eye (Al Maher) is in the box seat to fill a vacant slot in next week’s $15 million The Everest (1200m) but only if the gelding’s trainer Joe Pride and connections elect to entertain the offers from slot-holders James Harron Bloodstock and Inglis.

The Everest picture was dramatically muddied yesterday with news that the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace-trained dual Group 1 winner Snapdancer (Choisir), Inglis’ representative, would not be fit for Saturday week’s Sydney showpiece, leaving the auction house and Harron’s group scrambling to fill their slots in the race.

Godolphin, which also owns a slot, is expected to have one of its homebreds, either Paulele (Dawn Approach) or Kementari (Lonhro), wear its colours in The Everest.

Proven Thoroughbreds’ Jamie Walter told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday that both Harron and Inglis had made enquiries about the availability of the syndicator’s 2021 Epsom Handicap (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Private Eye since the five-year-old’s exceptional two-and-a-quarter length Group 2 victory in his spring reappearance at Flemington at the weekend.

“As you’re fully aware, the Sydney Stakes was boosted to $2 million this year on the same day, the consolation, and we were always planning to run in that after our first-up run whether it was going to be the Premiere or the Gilgai and we went to Melbourne in quest of better ground,” Walter said. 

“It’s probably not going to be flash ground in a fortnight but if he’s going to go to the Champions Mile he has to run and we’ll see how he goes, but he couldn’t have been more impressive on Saturday.”

The $3 million Champions Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) will be held on November 5, the last of four days of the Flemington carnival, but The Everest or the Sydney Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) on October 15 will be used as the sprinter-miler’s lead-up run.

“He’s going to run in one or the other, so if we got an offer [for The Everest] we’d obviously have to consider it given all the noughts involved and I’d say the owners would vote in favour of it,” Walter said. 

“Unlike many other years, The Everest looks like it’s got three or four chances and then there’s a long break to the also-rans, which means if a horse like ours ran in it and ran fifth or sixth, it still might be financially viable rather than running second in a Sydney Stakes or something. 

“I haven’t sat down and added it all up yet.”

Meanwhile, Spicer Thoroughbreds’ Brad Spicer, the syndicate manager of Snapdancer, was disappointed Everest plans had been curtailed due to the last-start Memsie Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner sustaining a foot injury.

“It’s really disappointing for Snapdancer, but we have to look after her first and foremost,” Spicer said from the UK yesterday where he is attending the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

“She has some foot soreness which means she cannot gallop this week [leading to her withdrawal from The Everest].”

Inglis said yesterday, upon confirmation Snapdancer’s Everest campaign was halted, that it would announce a replacement runner in the coming days.

Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai), a stablemate to Snapdancer and a last-start runner-up in the AJ Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m), is considered to be a leading contender to make her way into The Everest field while Danehill Stakes (Gr 2, 1100m) winner Giga Kick (Scissor Kick), who stretched his unbeaten streak for four with Saturday’s success at Flemington, has also emerged as a last-minute candidate.

The Clayton Douglas-trained gelding, a homebred for Jonathan Munz’s Pinecliff Racing, would join Golden Rose Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) winner Jacquinot (Rubick) as the only other three-year-old in the race if either Inglis or James Harron Bloodstock reached a deal for the horse to run in their respective slots.

Compounding Everest headaches for Inglis is the fact the auction house, in the five runnings of the race to date, has taken on a horse connected to one of the company’s sales, using the $600,000-a-year slot as a marketing tool and an incentive for buyers and vendors.

Snapdancer was a $60,000 Inglis Chairman’s Sale weanling buy for agent Sheamus Mills in 2017 before she was on-sold for three times that figure at the following year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale.

Private Eye, however, was an astute $62,500 purchase from the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale by Walter and Pride from the Ambergate Farm draft in 2019. 

The Michael Christian-bred and co-owned Bella Nipotina was sold at the 2019 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.

Private Eye was listed as a $15 chance in pre-nomination markets behind reigning Everest champion Nature Strip (Nicconi), who won The Shorts (Gr 2, 1100m) in devastating fashion last start, while Premiere Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) winner Lost And Running (Per Incanto) is a $7 chance. Jacquniot is at $11, the same price as Mazu (Maurice) and Masked Crusader (Toronado) who finished second and third respectively in the Premiere on Saturday.

Walter agrees with oddsmakers in that Nature Strip is deserving of being the clear Everest favourite.

“He’s the one to beat, no question,” he said. 

“I couldn’t believe his win the other day in as much as how well he settled in behind the pace. He’s been a fast-going horse, so to see him relax in behind them, they’ve done a great job with him, and it’ll sustain his career and make him an even more formidable opponent, I would have thought.”

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