A line-up of confirmed and potential The Everest horses will do battle at Royal Randwick on Saturday in the 2019 Concorde Stakes field including two-time defending champion Redzel.
Two-time champion Redzel chases another win in Saturday’s 2019 Concorde Stakes at Randwick. Photo: Steve Hart.
The Peter & Paul Snowden-trained son of Snitzel leads a small but top-class field of six sprinters in this weekend’s Group 3 $160,000 Concorde Stakes (1000m), Redzel chasing his third consecutive win in the short distance feature.
He became the race’s first two-time winner last year and is after another historical win ahead of the world’s richest race on turf – the $14 million The Everest (1200m) back at Randwick on October 19.
Redzel won the inaugural edition of The Everest race in 2017 and took out the Concorde Stakes – The Everest double again last year.
The now seven-year-old is one of eight gallopers already confirmed of a spot in the 12-horse The Everest field this season.
He was last seen running second in Eagle Farm’s Group 2 Victory Stakes (1200m) in late April and has had two recent trials including a Group & Listed win over 1000m at Rosehill on August 20.
The latest Concorde Stakes odds at Ladbrokes.com.au list Redzel as a $7 shot first-up and his record fresh is outstanding with four wins and four seconds from nine runs.
Currently Redzel is a $15 chance in futures The Everest betting, a price set to firm if he can win this weekend.
Hot favourite in Concorde Stakes betting at $2.30 and firming is the Chris Waller-trained Nature Strip in barrier two.
James McDonald rides the Nicconi five-year-old first-up on the weekend on the back of a second to Redzel in the Rosehill hit-out last month.
Nature Strip has an ultra-consistent record of 10 wins from 16 starts to date, including the Group 1 The Galaxy (1100m) in the wet at Rosehill in late March.
His last start was in Brisbane’s Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1200m) when he ran just over a length back fourth behind The Bostonian as the beaten favourite.
He looks a huge danger fresh in the Concorde Stakes over the 1000m, Nature Strip boasting a record of five wins and a second from his seven runs over the distance.
Set to get up on the speed from the gate, the short-distance specialist will take some beating as he looks to secure one of the remaining The Everest slots.
It is a wide-open edition of the Concorde Stakes this year and a betting nightmare for any punters looking outside the favourite for value as no runner is over $7.50 to win.
Sunlight is the $5.50 second favourite out in gate six, Tony McEvoy’s brilliant Zoustar mare making her four-year-old debut.
Her latest run was a third behind top-rated sprinter Santa Ana Lane in the Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes (1200m) during ‘The Championships’.
That followed her back-to-back Group 1 wins in Melbourne when completing the Newmarket Handicap – William Reid Stakes double.
Sunlight is a three-time Group 1 champ in Victoria having also beaten the boys in last year’s Coolmore Stud Stakes, but hasn’t won in Sydney since the Group 2 Magic Night Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill in March of 2018.
At $6 to retain his undefeated status with a first-up win the Concorde Stakes is the Tony Gollan-trained Zoustyle from Brisbane.
To date the son of Zoustar has won all six of his starts, but Saturday will be a career defining run for the four-year-old who makes his interstate and Group race debut.
The rails-drawn Graff – fifth in last year’s The Everest results – is an early market mover ($7.50 into $6.50), while Pierro stallion Pierata ($7.50) last seen winning the Group 1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) rounds out the field and betting markets.
The 2019 Forum Concorde Stakes is set to run as Randwick Race 6 at 3:10pm (AEST) on Saturday.
