Coolmore Australia has decided to go with Storm Boy for The Everest (1200m) at Royal Randwick this Saturday.
The Justify colt has snapped up the final slot for the world’s richest race on turf which will see 12 sprinters vie for the $20 million on offer.
A decision was made on Monday that Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott’s Storm Boy has received the nod over Chris Waller’s last-start winner Switzerland.
Coolmore’s Tom Moore has explained the reasons behind the Storm Boy choice, highlighting that horse’s scintillating first-up win in the Group 3 San Domenico on August 31.
“There’s a lot of positives with Storm Boy going into Saturday,” Moore said on SENTrack’s Giddy Up.
“He’s back on his home track, he’ll have the likelihood of a dry track and he’s got 53kg on his back with a good international jockey (Brenton Avdulla) on board.
“His record on dry tracks is phenomenal, he’s never been out of the placings on a good track, he’s had six starts on good tracks for four wins.
“We want to see him back at Randwick. Some things have gone against him at Rosehill the last two runs.
“We think if he can reproduce his San Domenico win a few starts back he can be in it for a long way.”
There is rain around in Sydney right now which could dampen Storm Boy’s hopes, but the forecast looks a bit clearer later in the week.
“We wouldn’t like to see a wet track,” Moore added.
“But at the moment he’s on track to take his place there on Saturday.”
Regarding Switzerland, he can now be targeted at the Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington later in the spring.
Backing up this weekend after a nice win in the Group 2 Roman Consul at Rosehill was just too much for Switzerland.
“If you wind back a couple of months, Switzerland was probably our No.1 pick to take our slot in the race,” Moore said further.
“It’s not often that things go to plan completely. Obviously he had a bit of a setback in his first-up run in the Run To The Rose where nothing really went right for him.
“Chris Waller and his team needed to reassess the plans going forward. It was decided that he would take his place in the Roman Consul with a trial in between.
“While he did come back incredibly well on Saturday, it was just a bridge too far to back him up within a week after four weeks between runs.
“Giving him an extra couple of weeks to go to the Coolmore at Flemington was the more appropriate thing to do for him.”
The Everest will be run this Saturday at Randwick. Storm Boy is around $15 with most bookmakers.
The Coolmore, for which Switzerland is currently a $4.80 chance with Sportsbet, is run on November 2 at Flemington.