Australia: Profiteer revving up for Everest in Moir Stakes at Moonee Valley

The 3-year-old Australian-bred Profiteer has already won a seven-figure race, doing so in the $1.54 million Inglis Millennium Stakes for 2-year-old sale graduates at Rosehill Gardens in January.

In his next two starts, Profiteer could reach two milestones – a first Group 1 win and a start in an eight-figure race.

Profiteer, unraced since a seventh in the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes for Southern Hemisphere 2-year-olds in March, will be favored to win Friday’s Group 1 Moir Stakes at five furlongs at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne.

A win could lead to a start in the $10.1 million Everest Stakes, the world’s richest sprint, at six furlongs at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.

Profiteer, unraced since a seventh in the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes for Southern Hemisphere 2-year-olds in March, will be favored to win Friday’s Group 1 Moir Stakes at five furlongs at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne.

Profiteer, trained by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr., was 3-1 in early betting for the $725,400 Moir Stakes as of Wednesday. A winner of 2 of 4 starts, Profiteer is racing at five furlongs for the first time. Both of his wins earlier this year were at 5 1/2 furlongs in which the speedy colt led throughout.

Profiteer is one of two 3-year-olds in a field of 11 in the Moir Stakes, along with Shaquero who won the $1.54 million Magic Millions 2-year-old Classic for sale graduates at six furlongs at Gold Coast Racecourse in January and was later 11th in the $2.7 million Golden Slipper.

Shaquero is rated as an outsider in the Moir Stakes.

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The Inferno, a multiple stakes winner in Singapore in 2020, will start in his first Group 1 in Australia in the Moir Stakes. A 5-year-old Australian-bred gelding, The Inferno won the Group 2 McEwen Stakes at five furlongs at Moonee Valley on Sept. 4 in a successful prep for the Moir.

Portland Sky and September Run, second and third in the McEwen, are part of the Moir field, along with Wild Ruler and Trekking, who were second and third behind Nature Spirit in the Group 3 Concorde Stakes at five furlongs at Randwick.

Nature Spirit, the 2019-20 Australian Horse of the Year, is one of the leading contenders for the Everest.