Kiwis set to dominate Australia’s A$20m glamour horse race

New Zealand-bred and part-owned War Machine has been one of the big movers in the market for the Everest. Photo/Grant Peters

Australia’s most hyped horse race will be overrun by Kiwis at Randwick today.

In fact, 10 of the 12 starters in the A$20 million Everest will have a direct New Zealand link in this most Australian of races.

The Everest may have been designed to attract a younger crowd to the party that will be at Randwick today but it is also a 1200m dash for mega cash, the type of race Aussies pride themselves at being the best in the world at.

That may still be true, but nearly 84% of the runners in the slot race have at least one reason to have Kiwis cheering.

The most likely is favourite Ka Ying Rising, born and initially trained in New Zealand before moving to Hong Kong where he has become the world’s highest-rated sprinter.

If he wins today it will be a win for the New Zealand breeding industry in the eyes of both valuable future Australian and Hong Kong buyers, with the added bonus that his sire Shamexpress is still on active duty at Windsor Park Stud in Cambridge.

Cambridge also has a link to second favourite Joliestar, who is owned by Cambridge Stud owners Brendan and Jo Lindsay, while the surprise third favourite is now War Machine.

He was bred by popular Central Districts horseman Jim Wallace and purchased after trialling well in New Zealand but Wallace still retains a share as does former All Black coach John Hart, among others.

War Machine being backed from $21 to $10 has pushed yet another former New Zealand horse in Jimmysstar back to fourth favouritism and he also retains some of his local owners, headed by co-breeders Sam and Dame Catriona Williams.

Jedibeel is the other Everest contender bred in New Zealand, being a son of the great Savabeel who was sold by Waikato Stud at the national weanling sale for $35,000 in 2020 when Covid restrictions forced that sale to be held online only.

Those five with distinct New Zealand links are joined by Overpass, trained by perhaps New Zealand’s most humorous racing export in Bjorn Baker.

If Overpass wins today, Baker could make as much noise as the other 50,000 people at Randwick put together. He might then try to drink as much as them all combined too.

Ex-pat champion trainer Chris Waller not only trains Joliestar but also Lady Shenandoah and Angel Capital, so there are two more starters with a Kiwi link and Joliestar triples down on that as James McDonald rides.

He won’t be the only New Zealand jockey in the race though as Jason Collett partners possible early leader Mazu while Hawke’s Bay export Mick Dee rides Magic Time.

The Aussies still have Briasa and Tempted racing for their national pride.

Ka Ying Rising has emerged as the most talked about horse in Everest history and if today’s race was being run at Sha Tin he’d probably be unbeatable.

He should be handy on the outer and the entire race could come down to if and when he passes likely leaders, Mazu and Overpass, can he hold off the other Australian sprinters, an overall deeper bunch than what he has been beating up on in Hong Kong?

The answer is: the best version of Ka Ying Rising should win, especially on the likely good track.

But anything below his best will leave him vulnerable to whoever is sitting closest to him.

** So mammoth has the Everest become, the A$5 million Caulfield Cup, to be run at hour later at 7.15pm (NZ time), seems almost an afterthought.

Favourite Half Yours picks himself as a class horse with a strong last start weight-for-age performance only carrying 52.5kg today.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.