Paul Snowden is more than happy the stable's star sprinter Redzel has been out of the spotlight heading into the $10 million Everest but is confident the gelding will be featuring centre stage come the main event at Randwick on Saturday.
The son of Snitzel has been in scintillating form, winning his past four starts including the Group I Doomben 10,000 (1200m) and the Group III The Shorts (1100m) where he defeated The Everest rivals English, Fell Swoop and Chautauqua in track record time.
Paul Snowden, who trains in partnership with his father Peter, is confident Redzel has major claims despite the lack of attention and sitting on the fifth line of betting.
"It's good, they've left us alone," Snowden said. "We know he's a winning chance.
"He's beaten them all in The Shorts and did it quite well.
"He's gone to another level.
"You can see it in the way he is racing, the horses he's beating.
"Probably 12 months ago, he was a length or two off them at the top but now he's a genuine contender to pull off a race like The Everest on Saturday.
"He worked well this morning. He had a nice trial the other day so basically his last bit of work was just preparing to be cherry ripe on Saturday."
Redzel will tackle The Everest with a four-week gap since his last run and Snowden sees this as the perfect scenario.
"We know where the horse is at, we've done this three times now," he said.
"He went off a three or four-week break and won up the straight at Flemington.
"Off a five week break he won the Hall Mark and then three weeks later he wins a Group I, so we've got a pretty good handle on what the horse needs.
"You have only got to look at his form since this time last year – he's got mostly ones next to his name."
There looks to be plenty of speed engaged in Saturday's feature event and although Redzel has led or sat outside the lead in a majority of his starts Snowden is adamant that the horse has the versatility to adapt his style of racing should the pressure be too strong.
"He doesn't have to lead," Snowden said.
"It just depends on tempo, if something leads him then they are going pretty quick, aren't they?
"We can't be worried about Houtzen or if Deploy goes forward, we just have to begin well and we are lucky we have a rider (Kerrin McEvoy) that knows the horse extremely well and knows Redzel's capabilities. I think that's very important, especially for Saturday's race."
Snowden is well aware that an overly quick tempo might play into the hands of a key rival, while not going quick enough would take away his horse's greatest asset.
"If they run it like they ran the Moir the other night it's only going to set it up for one horse," he said.
"It will just ruin everyone's chances.
"I think everyone needs to assess their chances and ride their horse accordingly to try and win the race and if they go out blistering like they did the other night the big grey horse is going to be suited down to the ground.
"You have to ride your own horse."
Snowden was hoping that Tuesday's barrier draw gave champion jockey Kerrin McEvoy every option.
And drawing barrier four hit the spot, with Snowden indicating earlier in the day that he was most keen on barriers four, five or six.
Redzel is currently $8.50 with CrownBet while three-year-old filly She Will Reign heads the betting at $4.80.
