Sydney’s flying sprinter Redzel remains on track as well as the favourite for the 2018 $13m The Everest (1200m) at Randwick on October 13 despite being scratched from last Saturday’s The Shorts at Randwick.
Redzel, above, is set to continue his Everest campaign. Photo by Steve Hart.
Redzel sent a scare through the Peter and Paul Snowden stable when he was forced to miss an important lead up run to The Everest when he was scratched on race morning for the Group 2 $200,000 Bowermans Office Furniture Shorts (1100m).
Last year’s The Everest winner was found to be suffering from muscle soreness on race morning but co-trainer Paul Snowden said that Redzel had made a quick recovery to continue on his quest for a second win in rich Spring Carnival sprint.
“He’s pretty much full of beans and jumping around and carrying on,” Snowden reported on Monday on RSN 927’s Racing Pulse.
“We’ll run some more little tests today but he’s in pretty good spirits and we’ll start to step his work up later on in the week but we are pretty comfortable where we are sitting.
“All he’s missed is the race on Saturday. He worked on the treadmill Sunday morning and worked again there this morning (Monday).
“This is just a little bit of a hiccup on the road. It’s definitely not the end of our section that’s for sure.”
“It’s just one of those things and I’m glad it’s happened now and not in a month’s time.”
Redzel remains the $4.50 favourite for The Everest with Ladbrokes.com.au just ahead of the Gerald Ryan trained Trapeze Artist at $5 and Nature Strip and Vega Magic at $6.50.
Redzel was examined by the Racing NSW Veterinarian, Dr James Mizzi, on Monday afternoon and was found to be free in in his action and Team Snowden will consider running him in the Group 2 $500,000 Premiere Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on September 29 or he could be sent around in a barrier trial before trying to score back to back wins in The Everest.
Redzel kicked off his Everest defence in great style with a brilliant first up win in the Group 3 $160,000 Concorde Stakes (1000m) at Randwick on September 1.
Confirmed runners for the 2018 The Everest: Trapeze Artist (Aquis, slot holder), In Her Time (TAB), Redzel (Yulong Investments), Brave Smash (Chris Waller Racing), Shoals (The Star), English (Damion Flower), Santa Ana Lane (Inglis), U S Navy Flag (Coolmore), Vega Magic (James Harron) and Invincible Star (GPI Racing), Nature Strip (ATC) with one remaining slot yet to be filled.
Early betting for the 2018 The Everest at Ladbrokes.com.au: $4.50 Redzel, $5 Trapeze Artist, $6.50 Nature Strip, Vega Magic, $12 Santa Ana Lane, In Her Time, U S Navy Flag, $14 Invincible Star, $16 Home Of The Brave, $18 Shoals, $21 English, Brave Smash, $31 Pierata, $34 Winx, $41 Jungle Cat, Prompt Response, $61 Graff, Kemono, Le Romain, Sunlight, Voodoo Lad, $101 or better the rest.
