Redzel scores repeat win in rich Everest Stakes

It was a slow, wet climb, but Redzel scaled the mountain again, winning the Everest Stakes – and the riches that come with it – for the second year in a row.

Redzel won the inaugural Everest one year ago at Randwick in Sydney, Australia, and won it again on a rainy Saturday during a rainy week.

The Randwick course was rated Heavy 9 for Saturday racing, the second-wettest designation in the 10-level system employed within Australian racing. And that was just fine with Redzel. When U S Navy Flag – thought to be a prime pace rival – failed to break, Redzel and jockey Kerrin McEvoy bounded to the lead from post 1, setting a slow pace and never really being challenged after kicking for home.

Redzel’s halfway split in the race, 600 meters, went in 36.71 seconds, which was 1.46 seconds slower than the Sydney Stakes, run 45 minutes earlier over the same 1,200-meter, one-turn trip. Pierata powered home to win the Sydney, worth one-tenth the Everest and a quasi-consolation prize, in 1:10.82. It took Redzel 1:12.03 to negotiate the laboring ground – but nobody was complaining about times.

Redzel’s share of the $9.4 million purse made him the second-leading Australian money-earner behind only the legendary Winx, who continues adding to her bankroll. Redzel ran for Triple Crown Syndications in the Everest, which has an entry structure like the Pegasus World Cup in Florida, where owners purchase starting slots – for more than $400,000 in the Everest’s case – and fill them with horses.

Trained by the father-son team of Peter and Paul Snowden, Redzel had a complicated preparation for his repeat bid in the Everest after sustaining a relatively minor injury in a barn incident in September. Stiff and sore for a spell, according to co-trainer Paul Snowden, Redzel was too wound up prepping for the Everest in the Premier Stakes, where he faded to fourth after leading.

There was no fading Saturday. Redzel crossed the line 1 1/4 lengths in front of Trapeze Artist, who stalked the pace and held second by 1 1/2 lengths over Osborne Bulls. The latter drew into the race from the also-eligible list and was kept far outside for the homestretch, hunting for better going over by the stands.

Redzel, a gelding by Snitzel out of Millrich, by Rubiton, now has won half his 28 starts – including a couple of very, very lucrative ones.