The official The Everest 2024 barrier draw is now complete with race favourite I Wish I Win drawing gate nine as he gets set to face off in front of a sell-out crowd in Sydney on Saturday.

It was the first time the barrier draw announcement took place at Royal Randwick under the big top with a circus theme.

The Peter Moody & Katherine Coleman-trained champ was runner-up to Think About It in the $20 million The Everest (1200m) last year from the inside alley when narrowly denied victory in the world’s richest turf race.

He returns 12 months’ on as a leading hope again third-up and fit ready to claim the first edition of the race as a Group 1 event from a favourable mid-field draw which produced the 2019 winner Yes Yes Yes.

Both Think About It (2023) and Giga Kick (2022) won from barrier five, which is the only gate to produce more than one The Everest winner from the opening seven editions of the famous slot race.

Barrier 5 this weekend belongs to Storm Boy.

Storm Boy was officially the last The Everest horse announced for slot holders Coolmore with the Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott-trained Justify colt, third in the Slipper, edging out Switzerland for the slot.

Giga Kick is back as a previous winner looking to join Redzel (2017-18) as the only multiple The Everest champions with the Clayton Douglas-trained Scissor Kick gelding drawn gate near the inside in barrier three.

Douglas, who admitted he was expecting big things from his runner, described barrier three as the “perfect gate” and the horse as fit and ready to impress.

Winner of the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1200m) in Brisbane over the winter, the now five-year-old is third-up this weekend and was last seen crossing under a length back fourth behind Airman in the Group 2 Premiere Stakes (1200m) at The Everest track and trip.

The widest barrier and only double-digit gate to produce a The Everest winner was barrier 10 that Nature Strip saluted from for the Waller stable back in 2021.

The Everest contenders drawn the widest this season are Joe Pride‘s dual placegetter Private Eye (10), and Bella Nipotina (12) from the outside alley.

In Secret running fourth last year is the best finish by a mare in a The Everest to date, and this year’s field features a bumper crop of mares with Bella Nipotina an early favourite for Ciaron Maher even from the alley.

Bella Nipotina is the form horse in the race and has shown plenty of brilliance and versatility over her career including big race wins from wide alleys giving the team behind her confidence she can rise to the occasion again.

Another Maher-trained mare with genuine winning claims on the weekend is the airborne I Am Me chasing a hat-trick from barrier one for jockey Nash Rawiller.

The six-year-old daughter of I Am Invincible comes via back-to-back wins in two of the key The Everest lead-up events beating home her rivals in the Group 3 Concorde Stakes (1000m) and the Group 2 The Shorts (1100m), and she is set to get all the favours from the inside alley.

Flying apprentice hoop Zac Lloyd is riding in outstanding form this season and jumps aboard the Bjorn Baker-trained Group 1 Stradbroke winner from the winter in Queensland, Stefi Magnetica, from an ideal barrier six draw that Classique Legend won from in 2020.

Stefi Magnetica could prove one of the value chances second-up and ready to go one better than her second fresh in The Shorts that has a nice record of producing The Everest winners for last year’s winning slot holders.

Annabel Neasham & Rob Archibald have their maiden The Everest starter with Group 1 winning mare Sunshine In Paris, first-up winner of the Group 2 Sheraco Stakes, who is drawn gate eight for Tommy Berry.

Two time The Everest winning trainer and slot holder, Chris Waller, gets his shot at a third with his ultra-consistent four-year-old Zoustar mare Joliestar one of the big winners of the night with last year’s still untapped Thousand Guineas winner drawn barrier four which Redzel won the inaugural edition from in 2017.

A strong contingent of three-year-olds will be there looking to beat home the older runners and become the third of their age to take out The Everest.

The best fancied of the three-year-olds is the Maher-trained Growing Empire, luckless and narrow runner-up in the Group 1 Ladbrokes Manikato Stakes, who jumps from barrier seven with Kerrin McEvoy chasing his fourth triumph.

Trainer James Cummings has high hopes for his starter Traffic Warden who Jamie Kah partners on the weekend from barrier two.

The well performed Street Boss colt ran fourth in the Golden Slipper and second in the ATC Sires’ as a juvenile and has been excellent again this time in.

Fresh he showed a terrific turn of foot to win the Group 2 Run To The Rose before a huge run for second behind Broadsiding in the Group 1 Golden Rose.

He now drops back to 53kg, will be conditioned well back to 1200m, and is drawn ideally given every chance now at weight-for-age.

Along with Storm Boy, Waterhouse & Bott also train the sole filly in the field, Lady Of Camelot, who was left with barrier 11.

Click here for the latest The Everest 2024 betting markets from Ladbrokes.com.au.

2024 The Everest Barrier Draw

Table Credit: Racing Australia.

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