Pressure mounts ahead of Everest
‘WE OWE IT TO AUSTRALIA TO DO WELL’
ROD Lyons, the part-owner of Nature Strip, says the more his champion sprinter wins, the more anxious he gets.
On the eve of Nature Strip’s attempt to win a second successive $15m TAB Everest at Royal Randwick on Saturday, Lyons fears failure and how that might tarnish his horse’s reputation.
“I worry the knockers will come out of the woodwork if Nature Strip happens to get beaten,’’ Lyons said.
“With Nature Strip, every time he runs I get anxious as I want him to do well because I feel we owe it to the Australian public.’’
The Chris Waller-trained Nature Strip is about to line up in his fourth The Everest and is a vastly superior sprinter to the horse that ran unplaced in 2019 behind Yes Yes Yes, and again in 2020 when Classique Legend won the rich Randwick race.
“Nature Strip is a different horse now …’’ Lyons said.
“He has certainly got better. His last 12 months have been the best and I think a lot of it has to do with our trainer.’’
Lyons, who has been investing in the sport for nearly 50 years, described Waller as “an absolute freak”.
“I’ve said it many times, but Chris would be a success in whatever he wanted to do because he is so disciplined,’’ Lyons said.
“There are very few people who have Chris’s organisational skills. When it comes to training his horses, I think it is almost an obsession with him. He is so focused and doesn’t let his guard down.’’
Lyons said Waller would break all the training records if he continued in the sport for another two decades.
“I knew Geoff Murphy, Angus Armanasco, George Hanlon, they were all training legends, but I believe Chris will be compared with the best ever – TJ Smith, Bart Cummings and Colin Hayes,’’ he said.
Nature Strip has always had natural speed but was often his own worst enemy because of his tendency to over-race. But Waller has transformed him into a more complete racehorse.
The gelding is now an eight-year-old but is racing in the best form of his career, with recent successes in the TJ Smith Stakes, King’s Stand Stakes at England’s Royal Ascot carnival, and The Shorts arguably his top wins.
Nature Strip, set to start the shortest favourite in Everest history, has been the horse of a lifetime for Lyons, 70, who has been in the game long enough to know nothing can be taken for granted.
“Nature Strip is going to have to be at his best because Eduardo, Masked Crusader, Lost And Running and Mazu are all good horses …’’ he said.
“It’s like a heavyweight title fight – the world champion is there and all the major contenders are ready to take him on.’’