Perfect preparations for Everest, but Pride still riding his luck

For Joe Pride, a year will be crammed into 70 seconds next Saturday.

The Warwick Farm trainer has been planning for six months to have sprinters Private Eye and Think About It at their peaks for The Everest at Randwick.

Joe Pride with Everest favourite Think About It.Credit: Getty

Pride has done his job, and now he wants racing luck to get a year’s worth of earnings in a minute.

“It’s crazy. That’s where The Everest just throws your brain process out a bit,” Pride said.

“Last year, my horses earned $7 million, and there was a lot of good luck and a lot of bad luck, but it balanced out over the year.

“There’s no balancing out in a race which is over in a minute – it’s either good luck or bad luck. Luck can be the difference between winning and losing – 10 [million] and nothing.

“We have just controlled what we can with both horses and hope things go our way next Saturday.”

The Everest has become an unstoppable force in just seven years, rising from a novelty event with enormous prizemoney to a key part of the Australian racing calendar, turning spring tradition on its head. The $20 million prize pool has made it the racing equivalent of a 12-horse lotto.

Pride has two runners in with a chance of winning the major share of the prize pool, but when you factor in their odds (Think About It is the $4 favourite and Private Eye is at $6), the trainer’s hopes are even better.

It is no wonder Pride has measured every part of the past six months with his sprinters.

“I’ve said a few times over the last month, that if they were cars I would park them in the garage and pull them out on Everest day,” he said.

“But they are flesh and blood, they need ticking over. They need exercise and we are just doing everything to have them at their peak for Everest day.

“They are different, so you treat them like that and what’s good for Private Eye isn’t right for Think About It.”

Private Eye, last year’s Everest runner-up, gained his slot after a storming win in The Shorts and impressed in a barrier trial on Friday.

“He is ready to go, and we know he is going as well as last year,” Pride said.

Think About It might be the most exciting sprinter in the field; riding an eight-race winning streak after a triumph in the Premiere Stakes to go with his victories in the Kingsford Smith Cup and Stradbroke from the Brisbane winter.

He will have one more gallop before The Everest, Pride having the advantage of knowing he had a slot in the field in May when Newgate Farm signed him up.

Think About It’s program has been designed to fit his strengths, which is the ability to hold high speed for longer than most, coupled with a stunning change of foot.

“It would have been a waste of time running him over 1100m, and I think racing two weeks out for him was optimum because he doesn’t handle four weeks between runs,” Pride said. “He likes to be active.

“Think About It will be at his best because of the 1200m run in the Premiere. He did his job [by winning] and it did its job of tightening him up for The Everest.”

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