Touted as the budding star of the sprinting ranks, Mazu will face his moment of truth when he takes on Nature Strip, Eduardo and co in an enthralling edition of The Shorts.
Gelded after he won the Brian Crowley Stakes last year, the four-year-old went to another level in the autumn when he was undefeated in five starts, capping his rise with victory in the Doomben 10,000.
It was enough to earn him an Everest berth and on Saturday at Randwick, Mazu will take the next and most serious step towards that goal when he comes up against established Group 1 performers Nature Strip, Masked Crusader, Eduardo and Classique Legend.
Trainers Peter and Paul Snowden, who won the first two runnings of The Everest with Redzel, are not anticipating Mazu will win first-up, but they are still heading into the race with high expectations.
“He has got a way to go until his grand final, but you’ve got to meet these horses,” Peter Snowden said.
“You’re going to meet them every start now so there is no dodging them and we’ll have him ready.
“If he finishes within two or three lengths of them, I’ll be happy with that because he’s got a good bit of improvement in him.
“But he needs to be competitive and to do that, he needs to be finishing within the first two or three lengths.”
While Redzel didn’t contest The Shorts en route to his two Everest victories, each of his wins in the lucrative sprint came at his third run of the campaign and the Snowdens will use the same formula with Mazu.
He will run second-up in the Premiere Stakes (1200m) two weeks from Saturday then have another fortnight into the $15 million spring centrepiece.
Paris Dior will be the lone flagbearer for the Snowdens’ in the Tea Rose Stakes (1400m) after they opted to scratch Russian Conquest in favour of a start in the Thousand Guineas Prelude at Caulfield.
Both fillies resumed on an unfavourable heavy track in the Furious Stakes and are expected to bounce back to their best on better surfaces.
“It is what it is, we had to regroup and they’ve done a good job pulling themselves up off the canvas after a hard run,” Snowden said.
“They have both come through it well and are in good order, I just hope and pray we get decent tracks for them on Saturday.”
