Trekking will give Godolphin a second runner in next month’s $15 million The Everest after being awarded the “slot” in the race owned by Max Whitby, Neil Werrett, Steve McCann and Colin Madden.
Trekking joins stablemate Bivouac who will run in the Godolphin slot in the world’s richest turf race, with their trainer James Cummings declaring each an outstanding prospect.
“To have two horses in a race like this is always going to be a great thing,” Cummings said.
“But this a lot more than merely having two horses in The Everest, this is a case of having two horses in the race that we believe can win it.”
While Bivouac runs in the Godolphin-owned Everest “slot”, Trekking will race in that owned by Max Whitby and Neil Werrett.
For Whitby, racing a horse of Trekking’s calibre in partnership with Godolphin in a race like The Everest is a highlight of his years in racing.
“It’s not many times in your racing life that you can be partnering with a leading worldwide group like Godolphin,” Whitby said.
“We are very proud to partner with their champion Trekking, a horse who’s a multiple G1 winner and was third in last year’s Everest.”
For Trekking, his Everest place offers a second chance at victory after his third in 2019.
It also comes after an exciting return to racing in the G1 AJ Moir Stakes at Moonee Valley where he was a fast-closing second to Pippie earlier this month.
“That was the best first-up run Trekking has ever produced,” Cummings said.
“He’s come through that race in great shape and we’ll have him back up to Sydney to get him ready to run the race of his life.”
The winner of the G1 Stradbroke Handicap and the G1 Goodwood, in which he beat the prominent Everest contender Gytrash, Trekking has improved in each of his four seasons of racing, a quality Cummings said is typical of the progeny of his sire, the much-lamented Street Cry.
“It’s something we’ve become accustomed to with the Street Cry progeny, an ability to produce a succession of weight-for-age horses who keep on improving as they got older.”
