Group 1 winning mare In Her Time has been snapped up by Tabcorp to fill their slot in the 2018 $13m The Everest (1200m) at Randwick on October 13.
In Her Time, above, has secured a slot for the 2018 The Everest at Randwick. Photo by Steve Hart.
Newcastle trainer Ben Smith is excited to have In Her Time pencilled in so early for The Everest after missing out on gaining a slot last year.
“We are extremely excited to be part of The Everest this year and really look forward to working with TAB. She is a better horse this season than she was last and we are really grateful to the TAB for this wonderful opportunity,” Smith said on twitter.
“We are locked in for The Everest now which gives me the chance to sit down and properly plan her schedule,’’ Smith told The Daily Telegraph.
“We are not rushed, we won’t have to worry about qualifying the mare, we can just concentrate on preparing her for the race.’’
“I remember Everest Day last year, the atmosphere was great last year and we were in a support race. It will be great to be a part of it this year.’’
In Her Time did make an appearance on The Everest race day last year with a win in the consolation, the Listed $500,000 Sydney Stakes (1200m).
Smith will give In Her Time a two run Brisbane Winter Carnival campaign before preparing for The Everest and will target the Group 1 $700,000 Kirin Doomben 10,000 (1200m) on May 12 and the Group 1 $1.5m Stradbroke Handicap (1350m) on June 9, both at Doomben.
“My plan is for the mare to run in the Doomben 10,000 then go back up to Brisbane for the Stradbroke Handicap,’’ Smith said.
“She will then have a break and basically I’m going to give her a similar preparation to last spring by running her in the Premiere Stakes then The Everest — she has a red-hot, second-up record.’
In Her Time has been a consistent Group 1 performer for the last twelve months and was placed twice during the 2017 Brisbane Winter Carnival with a second in the Stradbroke Handicap followed by a third in the Group 1 $500,000 Sky Racing Tattersall’s Tiara (1350m) at Doomben.
The five year old mare then ran second to Hey Doc in the Group 1 $1m Ladbrokes Manikato Stakes (1200m) at The Valley during the 2017 Melbourne Spring Carnival and then broke through for her initial Group 1 win in the $700,000 The PFD Food Services Galaxy (1100m) at Rosehill during the 2018 Sydney Autumn Carnival.
In Her Time then backed up for a third behind Trapeze Artist and Redzel in the Group 1 $2.5m Darley T J Smith Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on day one of The Championships.
In Her Time is well in contention in the betting for The Everest at $9 with Ladbrokes.com.au who have the T J Smith winner Trapeze Artist as the $4.50 favourite ahead of last year’s winner Redzel at $5 and the Darren Weir trained Japanese import Ittetsu at $6.
Early betting for the 2018 The Everest at Ladbrokes.com.au: $4.50 Trapeze Artist, $5 Redzel, $6 Ittetsu, $9 In Her Time, $13 Kementari, Merchant Navy, $15 Brave Smash, Happy Clapper, $17 Vega Magic, Viddora, $21 Chautauqua, Menari, Nature Strip, $26 Hot King Prawn, Redkirk Warrior, Winx, $31 Impending, $41 or better the rest.
The post In Her Time slots into The Everest 2018 field appeared first on HorseRacing.com.au.