BEHEMOTH SECURES EVEREST START
MOVE over Gytrash. South Australia has another giantkiller in The Everest mix.
Behemoth became the seventh sprinter to secure a start in the $15 million The Everest after slot-holder The Star snapped up the dual Group 1 winner.
The deal was completed on Tuesday and comes after Behemoth shouldered 60kg to win the Group 1 Sir Rupert
Clarke Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield last Saturday.
The David Jolly-trained sprinter had won the Group 1 Memsie Stakes over the same course and distance at his previous start.
Behemoth joins Gytrash (slot-holder Inglis), Nature Strip (TAB), Classique Legend (Bon Ho), Rothfire (miRunners), Tofane (Yulong) and Farnan (Aquis) as confirmed starters in The Everest, run at Royal Randwick on October 17.
After learning of Behemoth’s The Everest selection, price assessors tightened his odds to $15 for the world’s richest turf race after as much as $26 was bet about him as late as Monday.
Behemoth, who was purchased for just $6000 as a yearling and has already earned $1.6 million prizemoney, was not going to The Everest as an afterthought, Grand Syndicates racing manager Sam Lyons said.
“This is something that David and myself have discussed for some time as we think he is well and truly up to a race like this,” said Lyons on The Trek To The Everest on Tuesday night.
“But realistically, he had really good targets in the Melbourne spring, four Group 1 races, and there are sort of two Group 1 races that we are almost walking away from to come and race in The Everest.
“It was at a point where we had to make a decision.”