English to push her claims for Everest
ADRIAN Bott is looking forward to English making strides towards running in a second Everest when the Doomben 10,000 winner attempts to win a third Group 1 win in the Kingsford Smith Cup on Saturday.
The mare’s win in Brisbane this month, her first victory since the Group 2 Challenge Stakes at Randwick in March last year, was perfectly timed for Gai Waterhouse and co-trainer Bott after 11 starts without a win.
“We were really confident taking her up there but I guess it’s difficult when they haven’t won for that length of time,” Bott said.
“We were continually making excuses for her and you wonder if you’ll be doing that again even though we were really confident with where she was at and the timing of her preparation.”
Bott said English was still in a good space leading into Saturday’s $700,000 Kingsford Smith Cup (1350m) at Doomben, another audition for a berth in the $13 million Everest (1200m) at Randwick on October 13.
English was sixth in the inaugural running of the world’s richest race on turf last spring, and was a $15 chance yesterday for this year’s edition with nine of the 12 available slots remaining.
“We’d love a chance to get her to The Everest. I think she’s more than capable of training on,” Bott said. “She showed she can bounce back to her best and mix it with the top sprinters in Australia.”
In the 10,000, English trumped The Everest winner Redzel and In Her Time, who have already secured starts in the second edition alongside Trapeze Artist.
“We’re really happy with the way she’s come back after the 10,000 and hopefully she can hold that form through to the next start,” Bott said.
Jockey Tim Clark was happy with her work at the Gold Coast yesterday morning before he returned south to ride at Wyong.
“She worked well. She’s been in work a long time so she wasn’t there to break any records,” he said.
■ A FOOT injury could force the Hayes stable to withdraw Spieth from the Kingsford Smith Cup. The five-year-old sustained the injury during trackwork last Thursday and a start on Saturday now looks unlikely.