Last year’s third placegetter Osborne Bulls will press his claims for the Godolphin slot in the $14 million Everest when he runs in the Premiere Stakes at Randwick.
His biggest stumbling block in Saturday’s Group Two 1200m Premiere Stakes appears to be Classique Legend who is already an Everest runner for his Hong Kong owner Bon Ho and veteran trainer Les Bridge.
Osborne Bulls was a late call-up for the Australian Turf Club’s Everest slot in 2018, beating all bar Redzel and Trapeze Artist.
In the autumn he registered seconds in five consecutive Group One sprints, most recently the Doomben 10,000 in May.
Godolphin bought the slot vacated this year by Damion Flower and has several prospects in the wings.
“We scratched him a couple of weeks ago because even though one of his best performances was on a heavy track in the Everest a year ago, I’d prefer his first-up run to be on good ground,” trainer James Cummings said.
“There’s no doubt that he’ll be better for the run, but I think he’s nearly there.”
Stablemate Home Of The Brave is entered for Premiere and the Gilgai Stakes at Flemington where he would take on Everest favourite Santa Ana Lane and another leading contender, Sunlight.
Bivouac bolstered his claims for The Everest with his win in the Group One Golden Rose with Alizee and Trekking still in the mix for the Godolphin team.
“Now that Bivouac has won his Group One, The Everest is on the table,” Cummings said.
“If he hadn’t won last week, we wouldn’t be thinking of running in The Everest.”
If Home Of The Brave runs in Melbourne, the Premiere Stakes field will be reduced to five with Graff, Brutal and Land Of Plenty scheduled to run.
Classique Legend is at $2.20 in opening markets with Osborne Bulls, to be ridden by Hugh Bowman, at $3.
