Written by Richard Edmunds
James Cummings and the Godolphin team will wait until Sunday afternoon to decide the make-up of their shot at next Saturday’s $14 million Everest at Randwick.
Alizee (Sepoy) has been confirmed for Godolphin’s own slot in the world’s richest turf race, but the blue army may have doubled their Everest hand with the result of Saturday’s G2 Alfa Romeo Schillaci S. at Caulfield.
The winner of the $400,000 sprint feature is entitled to the Melbourne Racing Club’s Everest slot, and it was Godolphin’s Trekking (Street Cry {Ire}) who came out on top with a stylish performance.
Cummings said it was possible that Trekking might back up in the big one next Saturday, but that no decision would be made until Sunday. If he doesn’t, the slot will be offered to Schillaci runner-up Ball of Muscle (Dubawi {Ire}).
“It’ll be very attractive as a form reference, with him being only second-up today,” Cummings said. “We deliberately saved him so that he would be second-up today and ready to go.
“But we’ll have to be very happy with the way he pulls up from this race for him to back up next Saturday. The boys will have a good discussion about it. We’ve got until midday tomorrow to make a decision.
“We do know that Alizee is locked in. She’ll run in the Godolphin slot. She’s absolutely raring to go. She’s fresh and feeling good, and it’ll be great to see her in a high-pressure six-furlong race which should allow her to show her best.”
“We do know that Alizee is locked in... She’s absolutely raring to go. She’s fresh and feeling good." - James Cummings
Regardless of what the next week holds for Trekking, Saturday’s Schillaci win bodes well for the remainder of his career.
Given a brief let-up after a winter campaign that culminated in victory in the G1 Stradbroke H. in June, the 5-year-old resumed with a close eighth in the G1 Moir S. at Moonee Valley on September 27.
On Saturday he dropped back to third-last early in the race before Kerrin McEvoy started to get him warmed up approaching the home turn.
Trekking ran down his opponents
He ran down the front-running Ball of Muscle down the straight, comfortably extinguishing that rival’s brave fightback and beating him by a long neck.
New Zealand’s The Bostonian (NZ) (Jimmy Choux {NZ}), another Group 1 winner in Queensland during the winter, was right alongside Ball of Muscle in third.
“It was a great win by a game little horse,” McEvoy said. “I thought he ran well first-up at The Valley over 1000 metres. He has a good second-up record, and James Cummings had him cherry ripe for another good second-up run today.
“I have no doubt he can be competitive in The Everest. He’s won a Stradbroke. The Everest is weight-for-age, but he’s won at weight-for-age today.
“I have no doubt he can be competitive in The Everest." - Kerrin McEvoy
“He’s got a sharp turn of foot, he handles cut in the ground and goes well on top of the ground too. They’ll know he’s there, that’s for sure.”
Kerrin was pleased with Trekking's run
Cummings was also pleased by the win, which was Trekking’s ninth from 22 career starts.
“He looked like the class horse in a race like this,” he said. “Ball of Muscle controlled the speed well and it wasn’t too strong a gallop in the early part of the race.
“A bit of pressure went on before the turn, which helped Kerrin to start to get him through his gears. He looked really good coming up underneath him.”
