Tony McEvoy knows Half Yours has the job ahead in this Saturday’s Group 1 All Aged Stakes at Randwick, but the trainer could not be happier with his stable star ahead of his return to racing.
The five-year-old will head to the races for the first time since completing the Caulfield Cup/Melbourne Cup double at Flemington on November 4 when he takes on against the likes of Jimmysstar, Giga Kick, Fangirl, Briasa and Angel Capital in the $1.5 million event at 1400 metres.
It will be Half Yours’ first start at that trip since March 19 last year, when beaten by Tumbling in benchmark 64 at Sandown, but he used the remainder of 2025 to stamp himself a staying star and McEvoy said his training had been geared around a sharp first-up run.
“We’re training him a bit different at the moment; we’re keeping him really sharp to run in this 1400-metre race,” McEvoy said on Monday morning.
“He’s telling us that he’s loving it. He’s bouncing off the track, he’s eating maximum feed and I think he looks very, very well.
“He had his second trial under Jamie Melham at Flemington last week and we were all pretty with him and Jamie said he felt great.
“We’re really pleased. He’s travelled up to Sydney and he’s settled into Rosehill really well. He’s just going to have a sharp little piece of work tomorrow and then he’s going to run in the All Aged.
“It’s probably a hurdle too far for him to win that race if you look at who’s running, but it’s good kick off for him and it sets him up nicely.”
Following the All Aged Stakes, Half Yours will head to the $500,000 Group 2 Hollindale Stakes (1800m) on May 9 before the $1m Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m) two weeks later and $1.2 million Group 2 Q22 (2200m) on June 13.
It is a weight-for-age preparation and McEvoy and his co-trainer, son Calvin, are keen to see how he takes to it with his path towards his Melbourne Cup defence likely to include a start in the 2040m Cox Plate, which will this year be run at Flemington.
“That’s where he has to be now, weight-for-age, and he’s got to prove to us that he’s a weight-for-age horse,” McEvoy said.
“But, I must say, his run in the Turnbull was pretty good, finishing alongside Via Sistina, and from that moment I thought this horse is going to be able to handle himself at weight-for-age level.”
Half Yours was one of 19 entries for the All Aged Stakes, one of two Group 1s at Randwick this Saturday, accompanied by the $1m Champagne Stakes (1600m), which is headlined by ATC Sires’ winner Campione D’Italia.
