Evergreen sprinter Jungle Edge would be competitive in The Everest 2020 if he was given a slot, according to his trainer Mick Bell.
Trainer Mick Bell would like to see Jungle Edge, above, gain a slot in The Everest 2020. Photo by Jenny Barnes.
Jungle Edge collected his nineteenth win of his career with his victory in the Group 3 $128,000 Sir John Monash Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield last Saturday on his favourite surface, a heavy 8 rated track.
Bell said that Jungle Edge would not be out of his depth, especially if the Randwick track was rain affected, in the $15 million The Everest (1200m) on October 17, and the Cranbourne trainer is appealing to slot holders to consider his veteran sprinter as their runner.
“I’d still like to have a crack at The Everest,” Bell told AAP.
“If he runs in it he won’t run last, that’s for sure, and if it was a heavy track at Randwick, who knows what he’d do.
“The last time he ran up there in the Sydney Stakes on the same day, him and Pierata ran faster time than The Everest, so I don’t know what you’ve got to do.
“At the moment we’re all lepers (in Victoria) anyway. We’re not allowed to go there, so until then we’ll race down here.”
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, racing participants and racehorses are banned from crossing the border into New South Wales at the moment which means that for the time being Jungle Edge will have to keep racing in Victoria.
Bell has pencilled in the Group 3 $128,000 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield in October, the same race the nine year old was runner up in last year.
The Chris Waller trained multiple Group 1 winner Nature Strip is the $4.20 favourite for The Everest ahead of James Cummings’ Bivouac while Jungle Edge is at the long odds of $81.
Early betting for the 2020 The Everest at Ladbrokes.com.au: $4.20 Nature Strip, $9 Bivouac, $12 Alligator Blood, Classique Legend, Farnan, Gytrash, $15 Loving Gaby, Rothfire, Santa Ana Lane, $17 Doubtland, $19 Masked Crusader, Tofane, Trekking, $26 Fabergino, Fasika, Greyworm, Peltzer, Rubisaki, $31 Arcadia Queen, Tagaloa, $34 Deprive, Kementari, Kolding, Mamaragan, $41 or better the rest.
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