The $15 million dollar race at Everest will see a part Cootamundra owned horse called ‘Overpass’ competing for the top prize on the 15th of October.
Overpass will compete in the 1200 metre sprint after its second place finish on September 17th in race eight at Royal Randwick.
Whilst losing to Nature Strip at Randwick, who is the favourite to win the Everest for the second time in a row at $2.00, Overpass did beat four of the top six favourites in his last race.
The 4-year-old stallion has earned $1,064,400 in his career with its 31 per cent win rate and a 50 per cent place rate.
Having a great record on the soft and wet tracks, Overpass and its trainers will be hoping for a little rain leading up to the race.
With the Everest race favouring Overpass by running in a clockwise direction, Overpass is a real chance for the $6.2 million dollar first place prize, 2.3 million dollar second place prize or the $1.4 million dollar third place prize.
Runners for the Everest are allocated using a system where 12 slots are available for $600,000, which then allows the slot holder to negotiate with owners, pick their own horse and agree on a prize money split.
Overpass has not been allocated a slot yet, but will be assigned one of the four remaining slots by 10am on the Tuesday of race week.
Overpass opened at $67 but due to his recent form he now sits at $15 to win and $4.60 to place.
Overpass is likely to be ridden by one of his three favourite jockeys, Joshua Parr, Tim Clark or Rachel King.
Joshua Parr has ridden Overpass nine times for three wins, one-second place, earning $627,275 in those races.
Tim Clark has ridden Overpass three times with only one win but $187,350 in earnings over those rides.
Rachel King is a very likely rider of Overpass as she has raced him twice with two second place finishes and has found great success with him in his most recent race at Randwick.
The “richest race on turf” started in 2017 and was won back to back by ‘Redzel’ before the Chris Waller-trained horse ‘Yes Yes Yes’ won in 2019, ‘Classique Legend’ won in 2020 and another Chris Waller-trained Horse named ‘Nature Strip’ won in 2021.
The Cootamundra owner will be on the edge of their seat on October 15th, hoping to grab a slice of the $15 million dollars in prize money.
Ed Dodds