Giga Kick wins, as has over-run a fading Nature Strip to take out The Everest at Royal Randwick. Check out details in this article.
The everest 2022 : Giga Kick wins The Everest 2022
Giga Kick has over-run a fading Nature Strip to take out The Everest at Royal Randwick.
Nature Strip took the lead as the pack entered the straight, but faded and was also passed by Private Eye and Mazu to finish fourth.
Giga Kick’s jockey Craig Williams timed his run perfectly to win by a head.
“Extraordinary, stunning,” Bruce MacAvaney said in commentary for Seven as they crossed the finish line.
“You knew he (Nature Strip) was in trouble and it was going to take something special (to win).”
Giga Kick wins The Everest 2022
Nature Strip started the shortest-priced favourite in the Everest’s short history but his reputation as the best sprinter on the planet counted for little when it mattered most, as Giga Kick denied the wonder horse to win the $15 million Everest at Randwick.
Going for back-to-back wins in the world’s richest race on turf, Nature Strip couldn’t match Giga Kick in the dying stages before finishing fourth in a result no one saw coming.
Private Eye was momentarily hailed the winner before finishing second with Mazu taking the minor placing – just ahead of Nature Strip.
Giga Kick, one of two three-year-olds in the race, was ridden by Craig Williams for young Victorian trainer Clayton Douglas. He was one of the last horses picked for an Everest slot after compiling an unbeaten record in Victoria.
It was a triumph thought improbable a few weeks ago, but Williams revealed his confidence grew between Giga Kick winning at Caulfield in August and at Flemington earlier this month.
“I said to Clayton, ‘I think he might have to buy an (Everest) slot but he’s 12 months away’,” Williams said. “But after I rode him one day before he won the Danehill Stakes I said we might not be 12 months away after all.”
Williams was right and Douglas, a former jumps jockey, took up the challenge when slot holder James Harron came calling to offer Giga Kick an Everest berth.
Victorian three-year-old Giga Kick has stormed home to win the $15m The TAB Everest in a driving finish.