By Bren O'Brien
Two-time The Everest champion Redzel (Snitzel) has delighted co-trainer Peter Snowden after a strong return to the track when second in an 800m trial at Gosford on Monday.
Snowden, who trains in partnership with his son Paul, is following a similar path to The Everest with Redzel as he did 12 months ago, with the same Gosford trial to kick-off his preparation for his first-up run in the G3 Concorde S. in early September.
As is usually the case, the now 7-year-old, a winner of a remarkable $15.5 million in prizemoney, trialled without blinkers and replicated the performance in the same trial last year, finishing second.
On Monday, he sat outside Oakfield Twilight (Zoffany {Ire}) throughout, running him to under half a length on the line, a performance which Snowden told Sky Sports Radio was superior to what he did at the same track 12 months ago.
"It was a beauty. We never put blinkers on his first trial back. He is normally pretty casual, but he was good there today, he showed a fair bit of intent the last furlong without being asked to do anything," Snowden said.
"It’s good to see, it was a nice trial first-up, probably better than what he did last year first-up up here."
"It’s good to see, it was a nice trial first-up, probably better than what he did last year first-up up here." - Peter Snowden
The blinkers will go on for his next trial in a couple of weeks, which will be his final hitout ahead of his racetrack return in the G3 Concorde S. at Randwick on September 7, a race he won last year.
Snowden said the path from there to The Everest would be determined after his Concorde S. run. Last year, his path was clearly mapped out through the G2 Shorts S. when a raceday mishap saw him miss that run.
Redzel has been secured by Yulong to contest The Everest
It proved a blessing in disguise with Redzel bouncing off a below-par run in the G2 Premiere S. before claiming his second straight victory in Australia's richest race two weeks later.
His position in this year's race was secured when slotholder Yulong Investments locked him down to be its representative for the second straight year in June.
A below-par autumn, where he failed to win in four starts for the campaign, cast doubts on whether he would be up to a third shot at the title, but the Snowdens appeared to have worked their magic on him and he looks poised to give the now $14 million race, a mighty shake.
Fellow The Everest runner In Her Time (Time Thief) also featured in the same Gosford trial and she was given an easy time, finishing sixth, beaten 3.5l.
In Her Time, featured in the same trial and is also on track for The Everest
Her Kris Lees' stablemate and The Everest aspirant Graff (Star Witness) beat her home in fifth, closing home very well to be beaten just 1.8l.
Lees has previously indicated he may consider sending Graff to Melbourne, with the possibility he could contest the G2 Schillaci S., which thanks to a deal between the Melbourne Racing Club and slotholder the ATC, is now a qualifying race for The Everest.
There are only four slots remaining for The Everest, Coolmore Godolphin, the ATC and James Harron Bloodstock.
Graff will aim to the G2 Schillaci S. in looking to qualify for The Everest
Lees' runners won four of the 17 trials with 3-year-old colts Written Gazerra (Written Tycoon), Impudens (I Am Invincible), Spiritual Power (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Hooray Henry (Shamus Award) all successful.
Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott won seven trials, including one with stakes-winning 3-year-old Bellevue Hill (Pierro).
Dubious, Gailo Chop return at Cranbourne
Cranbourne in Victoria also staged a huge program of 28 trials, with G2 Champagne Classic winner Dubious (Not A Single Doubt) winning his first serious hitout of the campaign.
The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace trained Dubious, a runner-up in this year's Magic Millions 2YO Classic, won his trial over 990m in a time of 59.51s, edging out Mishani Hustler (Exceedingly Good), who was making his first appearance for new trainer Richard Laming.
Dubious, G2 Champagne Classic Winner
Earlier Group 1 winner Gailo Chop (Fr) (Deportivo {GB}) took his first major step on his comeback from a tendon injury which has sidelined him since running second to Winx (Street Cry {Ire}) in the 2018 Queen Elizabeth S.
Now trained by Matthew Williams, he finished third in a trial which was won by Group 1 placegetter and Listed winner Sikandarabad (Ire) (Dr Fong {USA}) for Lindsay Park.
Group 1 winners Kenedna (Not A Single Doubt) and Humidor (NZ) (Teofilo {Ire}) also got through their first trials of the campaign without incident.
