The moment has arrived! And what a journey it has been to The TAB Everest eve of 2025 - Official G1 status secured, 20 million bucks up for grabs, the fastest horse on the planet flown in and TV coverage going global - it's all happening!
Ironically, the famed mountain itself has been in the news of late too, as a massive search and rescue operation was launched to save climbers perched 16,000 feet above sea level in a blizzard that came out of nowhere.
The trail to the highest peak on Earth is precarious and fraught with terrible risk. And so is the path to greatness an equine Everest contender must tread!
We had the Yulong / Private Harry saga.
His original group of owners including trainer Nathan Doyle, were high fiving after they'd clubbed together to shell out a mere $115,00 for an Inglis Classic colt by Harry Angel, only to watch him rocket through the grades and become an undefeated G1 winning sprinter after just five starts.
The big boys were circling, and Yulong put forth the winning bid, securing 50% of young Harry for a lazy $8 million. He was the first horse locked into a 2025 Everest slot.
Plenty of pundits were adamant the star colt had the big one in the bag.
But we all know that's not how the racing universe works.
After two unplaced spring runs, Private Harry was back in the paddock (for now) and Yulong were without an Everest runner a week out!
Then there was the Skybird (Exosphere) drama. The G1 winning speed queen was slotted in for Inglis - then suddenly she too was out of the picture, after an injury sustained in the Manikato Stakes.
Meanwhile, the fastest horse on Earth had jetted into Sydney from Honkers.
Ka Ying Rising (Shamexpress), the NZ bred with a beloved Aussie trainer is nevertheless a “raider” to our shores - the fervent hero worship of turf stars in Hong Kong will brook no argument to that!
Ka Ying is a celebrity and he arrived in the appropriate blaze of publicity, which turned to rampant speculation when the great sprinter appeared locally for a spin and ran third in a trial.
Third! If he had pulled up on three legs the reaction could not have been more hysterical.
Suddenly David Hayes was pinned in a remorseless spotlight. Was Ka Ying Rising right? Was there an injury? Was Ka Ying off his feed?
His regal procession to triumph at the Everest peak was hit by its own blizzard of uncertainty.
Hayes handled the furore with urbane grace, assuring the hyperventilating masses that his horse was spot on.
With flashes of the mischievous Hayes grin (and the eyes of steel that go with it) the legendary trainer calmly addressed this runaway outbreak of “fake news.”
He remarked that Ka Ying Rising's trial-buddies Joliestar and Angel Capital “would need to find eight or nine lengths” to beat his champ in the actual race….further, that he’d back his horse to smash a track /course record on Saturday……further, that the biggest threat to Ka Ying was probably the horse trained by his sons……
Hoo boy! Nobody plays the game better than Hayes, and yet - some of the golden aura of invincibility which enveloped Ka Ying Rising before that infamous trial has undeniably thinned out a little - even after a solid track gallop on Monday.
It's game on. Can anyone repel the Hong Kong Jockey Club's challenge?
The Waller camp will launch Joliestar (Zoustar) from their own slot, and she is ready to rock after a fire breathing return in The Shorts 1100m.
Now five, the G1 Newmarket heroine of 2025 was second up there as she is here - and carried 56kg to defeat the subsequent TJ Smith placed / Quokka runner up Headwall with 52.5kg on that occasion. It was some performance!
She was a luckless seventh in the Everest last year and won the G1 Kingsford Smith from a seemingly impossible position in June.
Joliestar has matured into a pure powerhouse sprinter despite one of her three G1 wins being the 1,000 Guineas at three.
The likeable grey bullet Briasa (Smart Missile) is a G1 WFA winner and boasts the best local formlines alongside Joliestar, having run second to her in the Shorts before taking the G2 Premiere second up.
The Hawkes trained five year old has a blistering turn of foot. As a pedigree tragic I just have to mention his linebreeding to the very closely related mares Judy Rullah and Courtly Dee - which is no doubt responsible for a big whack of his speed.
TAB slotholder Jimmysstar (Per Incanto) is indeed a star, and the Ciaron Maher trained speedster is a G1 Oakleigh Plate /All Aged winner.
Incredibly he's out of a Zed mare, just reinforcing how prepotent a speedsire Per Incanto is ( also the damsire of Ka Ying rising!)
Reigning Stradbroke champ War Machine (Harry Angel) backs up in 10 days after a facile first up victory in the G2 Gilgai. Can he build on that to take on the fastest horse on the planet? A massive ask but he's still on the up, is thriving in the Hayes junior camp and runs in the Coolmore slot.
Lady Shenandoah (Snitzel) had some excuses in her Manikato fourth and looked uncomfortable first time at The Valley. The big track at Randwick is far more suitable..
The inevitable cracking pace is really going to suit the mare - she should have won first up in the Concorde carrying 58.5kg when going down a lip to G1 winner Headwall. She's a three time G1 winner at this track, she is special, and she might be the one to arrive in the last gasp.
Lady Shenandoah runs for Fairway Thoroughbreds after their home bred Everest hope Sunshine In Paris was retired due to injury earlier in the year.
Veteran Overpass (Vancouver) is best fresh, and that's exactly the condition in which Bjorn Baker's warhorse arrives.
The “King of Ascot” - holder of two G1 Winterbottom and Quokka titles in the west - has been unplaced in two Everest attempts and had his reputation dented of late, but we never write these older sprinters off!
Another spritely seven year old Mazu (Maurice) got the last minute call up from Yulong, and Joe Pride's admirable old boy is racing with zest. You know what you'll get from Mazu - a no holds barred run for your money! He's an Everest placegetter racing well, and demands respect.
Magic Time (Hellbent) won the G1 All Aged in 2024 albeit on a heavy 10, but she has run some great races on firm ground too,
A strongly run 1200m suits for the Grahame Begg trained, Yulong -owned mare who runs in the Inglis slot.
Jedibeel (Savabeel) is a quality sprinter with well exposed form that doesn't seem to quite cut the mustard here.
Brad Widdup’s galloper will be hoping to go one better than I Wish I Win for his champion sire, but has fallen short in all of his G1 starts. A win here would possibly rank as the greatest upset ever seen at Royal Randwick!
Angel Capital (Harry Angel) is also yet to taste G1 victory. Many are saying the Sir Rupert Clarke was denied the progressive four year old stallion by shocking luck and that may be, but this is WFA, first time Sydney way, and a massive step up! On the plus side - Waller trains and slot holder James Harron Bloodstock have already won two Everests!
That leaves this year's lone three year old, Godolphin's star filly Tempted (Street Boss) facing a drop back in distance and her acid test, after a gallant but distant G1 Golden Rose third behind the rampaging Beiwacht - whom she had beaten in the leadup.
A worthy carrier of the Godolphin blue, the fabulous filly is undefeated in two Randwick starts and three big things in her favour are her sire, Darley's well named Street Boss - who throws a streetfighting type! - Willo to steer, and barrier 1.
So after many twists and turns we have our final field for “the richest race on turf” - the Everest of 2025!
Top pick JOLIESTAR
I'm going there….tipping girlpower to take out consecutive Everests and knock off the champ. If there's the slightest chink in Ka Ying's armour, be it because the rumour mill had some truth in it or (far more likely scenario if he is to get beat) he is brought undone like many a great horse has been, by a change in environment, track conditions and opposition, Joliestar will be there to pounce!
Waller reckons his outstanding mare is racing with more confidence than she's ever had.
The five year old daughter of champion Zoustar was a $950,000 Cambridge Stud Inglis Easter purchase from the Segenhoe draft - and it proved to be money well spent by Brendan and Jo Lindsay, who took over NZ's legendary nursery from Sir Patrick Hogan in 2017.
Joliestar races in the famous Cambridge black and gold checks which have been carried to countless G1 victories. Can she add one of the most famous of all?
Her family is littered in black type. She descends from the Kentucky Oaks placed Galaday, ancestress of the influential broodmare sire Never Say Die and dam of champion GB filly Galatea II who in turn became the ancestress of the great Aussie speedster Zeditave.
This is a North American line (Sunstep) from legendary matriarch Chelandry, and it's a family extremely prominent in Zoustar's third dam Meteor Mist, who has loads of lines to it.
Zoustar's other champion fillies Zougotcha and Sunlight were also bred from mares with strong representation of this blood, but neither of them were from the family itself, or intensively linebred to it like Joliestar's dam Jolie Bay.
The G2 winning Jolie Bay (Fastnet Rock) is a full sister to G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes / Royal Ascot Diamond Jubilee Stakes champion Merchant Navy (sire of 2023 G1 Goodwood winning mare Royal Merchant) and to the stakes producing mare Zara Bay (dam of G2 Premiere stakes winner Airman)
Joliestar is the standout progeny of her dam, who has also produced the stakes placed God Of Thunder and Emperor - all her six foals to race have won.
Jolie Bay is from the G2 Sweet Embrace winner Legally Bay (Snippets) - a Blue Hen and daughter of Decidity (Last Tycoon). She is a half sister to G1 Myer Classic heroine and 4 x Group winner Bonaria, by Zoustar's damsire Redoute's Choice.
This damline goes back to the stakes winner Gypsy Moss through her daughter Pirouette (Planet Kingdom) - her full siblings were G1 QLD Derby hero Our Planet, G2 sprinter Gypsy Kingdom and Queen Gypsy (dam of Rosehill Guineas / AJC Derby hero Innocent King)
Joliestar is bred
Northern Dancer 5m x 5m
Danehill 4m x 3m
Her fourth dam and Fastnet Rock's third dam are daughters of the mighty broodmare sire Twig Moss. She is sex balanced to his grandsire Klairon through Encosta de Lago - and to Nijinsky, Mr Prospector, Lunchtime, Forli and Sir Ivor. Her pedigree brings together the three amigos and related sires Danzig, Bletchingly and Rockefella.
Mostly though, her whole pedigree is an exercise in linebreeding to elite mares - Natalma, Rough Shod, Selene, Chelandry and of course - Best In Show.
Confidence is boosted by the world's top ranked jockey, J Mac, choosing to partner Joliestar from the perfect barrier 5.
Next best: KA YING RISING
The horse who clocks the fastest times in the world is on a 13 race winning streak, and what a thrill it's going to be to see him run!
Does he bolt in hard held to the ecstatic roar of a 50,000 strong crowd jammed into Randwick - or will we (and the many millions watching on) witness a thriller which he possibly loses?
Ka Ying Rising's life story is well documented so I don't need to elaborate much on it here. He was an unremarkable yearling at first blush, by O'Reilly's Newmarket Hcp winner Shamexpress out of the staying mare Missy Moo (Per Incanto)
The combination produced that perfect and elusive blend of stamina and speed a truly great sprinter needs.
The unraced youngster registered as Mr Express in NZ was scouted after a couple of nice jumpouts, and found his way to Hayes senior and a syndicate of owners in Hong Kong.
The deeds of Ka Ying Rising have catapulted his sire Shamexpress, (who stands at Windsor Park stud in NZ) back to prominence after fertility issues seriously hampered a promising stud career. Read more about Shamexpress here
The modestly performed and sadly short lived Missy Moo was from a “sleeping” line descending from one of the greatest of all NZ families, that of Cambridge Stud's Blue Hen Taiona (Sovereign Edition)
From that great mare come the current 10x G1 winning superstar Mr Brightside and Ka Ying Rising, plus former superstars like Sovereign Red and Gurner's Lane.
Ka Ying Rising is bred
Northern Dancer 5m x 5f sex balanced
Try My Best 4m x 5f sex balanced
5m x 4f sex balanced
Mr Prospector x 5m,4m
The sleepy line of Missy Moo awoke with a start.
Shamexpress, by O'Reilly, descends from the mare Rose World - by Grosvenor out of Geraniums Red by Brigadier Gerard.
Last week's brilliant G1 Caulfield Guineas winning colt Autumn Boy has as his second dam Rose World's daughter O'Reilly Rose (by O'Reilly of course) and he also carries a double of Sir Tristram.
Ka Ying Rising goes for Everest history under his regular hoop Zac Purton, from barrier 7.
Roughie: LADY SHENANDOAH
This elite daughter of the late Snitzel will cement full blown champion status if she can win this.
Few fillies can do what she did at three, stringing together five stakes wins, three of them G1, the last in the Coolmore Classic defeating a brilliant field of older mares.
She did all that on raw talent being still unfurnished and it's a scary thought.
Lady Shenandoah was a $525,000 purchase for Heritage Thoroughbreds from the Arrowfield draft at Inglis Easter 2023.
Her winning dam Star Pupil also produced G1 HKJC Centenary Sprint Cup hero Stronger (Not A Single Doubt).
Star Pupil is a full sister to stakes winner Ain'Tnofallenstar, dam of the very good stayer Ain'Tnodeeldun (Dundeel)
They are daughters of the top race mare Ain't Seen Nothin - by Danehill's mighty son Nothin’ Leica Dane from Icecapade by Sir Ivor's son Ghengiz, she was at one time a leading Caulfield Cup contender, won three stakes races and was placed in a G1 Underwood.
Her dam Icecapade was a half sister to both Patou by Covetous, (dam of Golden Slipper heroine Polar Success) and the dam of Bring Me The Maid - dual G2 winner at two and third in the Golden Slipper.
This is the immediate family of Australian and international champions Elvstroem and Haradasun, their dam the AJC Oaks winning, Caulfield Cup runner up Circles Of Gold, and a multitude of Australian, NZ and international G1 winners including Starspangledbanner and Highland Reel.
Lady Shenandoah is bred
Northern Dancer 5m,5m x 5m
Danehill 3m x 4m
The big girl will be pretty happy to be back in her comfort zone at Randwick.
Damien Lane is aboard Lady Shenandoah and they've drawn a decent gate in 6.
Blowout: MAGIC TIME
This dual G1 winning daughter of Hellbent was an impressive third in the Manikato second up. She's a tough mare who handles all conditions and will be suited by a hectic speed!
Magic Time carried the colours of her breeder, John Muir's Milburn Creek Thoroughbred Stud, until Yulong acquired her in 2024.
She is trained out of Victoria by Grahame Begg - no stranger to G1 success with a good mare.
The now six year old failed to make her $150,000 reserve at the 2021 Magic Millions yearling sale..
She was purchased privately last year by Yulong, having amassed a stellar record of 8 wins and 6 placings from 22 starts, with earnings topping $3million and 2 open G1 wins in the bag - the All Aged and Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes.
Magic Time was the first foal for her dual stakes winning dam Time Awaits by the noted speedsire Nicconi, and she is bred on the same Green Desert cross as his great son and 2031 Everest hero Nature Strip.
Double that cross for good measure!
Magic Time is bred
Danzig 5m, 5m x 4m,5m
Green Desert 4m,4m x
Bletchingly 5m x 5f sex balanced
Who said inbreeding to Danzig was a bad idea - lots of people a long time ago. Since that time we have discovered that Danzig's female line (7-a) celebrates duplication possibly like no other! So here we have his relative Bletchingly x 2 (plus Rockefella) as well as Blue Hen Rafha through I Am Invincible, the gang's all here - it's a recipe for a super fast filly and that's exactly what it produced.
Hellbent's tail female line is very rich in this family blood and that's why he's a particularly great filly sire!
Mickey Dee is aboard Magic Time and he will need to pull out one of his best rides after she drew barrier 12. But she is the sort of horse that needs to be kept out of traffic. And Bella won from this gate last year!
