Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Breeder and part-owner Reg Young says Headwall was very close to an Everest spot last year after winning the Concorde Stakes (1000m) and before injury struck.
A year later, and without another trip to the races with his sprint star, Young is putting his faith in fate as Headwall returns to defend his Concorde Stakes title on Saturday at Randwick and secure a belated chance in the $20 million Everest.
Headwall appeared destined to race in the Everest last year after holding out a fast-finishing Lady Shenandoah in the $1 million group 2 race, but a week later he pulled up with a near hind leg injury and his spring was over.
It was a bitter blow for trainer Matt Smith and connections, who then had to give Headwall several months to overcome the pastern problem before deciding to hold fire through the winter and wait for the Everest lead-ups.
Young hoped a return in the race Headwall won last year proved a good omen as they strived for a slot in the October 17 Everest.
“We were pretty confident of getting there,” Young said of the richest race on turf last year.
“Anyway, these things are meant to happen sometimes. I’m a bit philosophical about it all I guess, but I’m just glad to have him and glad to have him back at the races.
“We were very close and I think we still are very close [to a slot], but it will all depend on a nice performance on Saturday and hopefully then heading into the Shorts. But Saturday will be a big test for him.
“Every time he races, things have started to fall in place for Headwall, but then, I don’t know. It’s fate, I think sometimes, and you’ve got to have a bit of faith in fate.”
Headwall, a grandson of mare Quest For Success, which started Young’s journey in breeding 25 years ago, has been impressive in sets of trials in June and August and was a $4.40 second elect for the Concorde behind Everest runner-up Tempted ($1.80).
Young said the prolonged spell could prove a blessing in disguise for the lightly raced seven-year-old, which has seven wins and nine placings in 18 career starts. The 2024 Warra at Kembla and the Concorde remain his only stakes-level wins, but he has placed in $5 million Quokka and the group 1 Newmarket and TJ Smith Stakes.
“There was no real diagnosis with his injury, it was just tender and it wasn’t something where we could go in and take a bone chip out or something. We just had to wait,” he said.
“You are just hoping that he learns to live with it and grow out of it, which it seems like he has done. The extra time has probably done us a favour. He’s probably been ready to be back at the races for two or three months now, but there was really nothing for him.
“It might be to our advantage because I think Matt has worked from the Everest back, with his start in the Concorde.
“We’re all racing for second place here in the Everest. Ka Ying Rising is an extraordinary horse, the best by a country mile I think, but it would be lovely to be racing against him.”
Young said he would have preferred a soft track on Saturday, but he was taking encouragement from Headwall’s stellar run to win the Warra, which was an emotional victory that set him on the path to top-level racing. That win at Young’s hometown track, Kembla, came a year after his wife, Marie, lost her battle with motor neurone disease.
“It was a very firm track in the Warra, they ran close to track record time and that was one of his better runs,” Young said.
“On a day of leader bias, he was the only one to come from back in the field.
“I lost my wife in 2023 to MND, and it was a horrific couple of years, but Headwall was a favourite horse of hers and Blake [Spriggs] was a favourite jockey, so it was quite a story to get them together and win the Warra.”
Freedman aiming to push Everest claims again
Randwick trainer Michael Freedman has one in the conversation for an Everest slot, and he hopes Marhoona – the only horse in Saturday’s Concorde Stakes to have beaten favourite Tempted – can make it two.
Freedman is chasing a first runner in the $20 million Everest, which will have its 10th edition on October 17, and the race to many of the 12 slots remains wide open.
No horses have been officially locked in for the marquee sprint at Randwick, but defending champion Ka Ying Rising is set to return for the Hong Kong Jockey Club, which has leased the Australian Turf Club’s slot for another two years.
Golden Slipper winner Guest House strengthened his claim for owner Coolmore’s spot with a track record win last week in the San Domenico Stakes, and Godolphin has the luxury of having Memsie Stakes winner Beiwacht and Everest runner-up Tempted in its colours.
Joliestar, Australia’s champion sprinter last season, looms as a strong chance to again fill trainer Chris Waller’s slot. Yulong could go with its stallion hope Angel Capital, and there is a long list of options, including Everest placegetter Jimmysstar, for other slot-holders.
Freedman-trained Ninja put himself in the frame, possibly for part-owner John Camilleri’s slot, with victory in the Missile Stakes. He is set to trial at Rosehill on Tuesday and run in the Shorts on September 19.
“There’s been some discussions, but I don’t think anything has been locked in as yet,” Freedman said of Ninja getting Camilleri’s slot.
Freedman has hopes also with Marhoona, the 2025 Golden Slipper and this year Galaxy winner, which resumes on Saturday as a $9 chance. Marhoona beat Tempted, $1.80 for Saturday, in the Slipper but was fourth to her last time out in the Arrowfield Sprint.
“I thought she’s trialled up well and she seems in good order,” Freedman said.
“It’s a good race tomorrow and there’s obviously a lot of speed in it, but I think she can run well.
“She didn’t get a lot of luck in the Arrowfield where she got stuck wide all the way. [At 1000m] in the Challenge Stakes, she went within a pimple of beating Generosity.
“I think most of the horses that are running in that race tomorrow are looking to try to put their hand up as a possible Everest horse, so there will be a few in the same boat. Just wait and see.
“It will probably be this into the Premiere and if she didn’t get an Everest berth, the Sydney Stakes on the same day would be a nice race for her too.”
Freedman also hopes to push slot claims with Apocalyptic, which was third from back in the field in the Toy Show Quality first-up.
“She ran great sectionals that day and she seems to have come on well, so she’ll go to the Sheraco next Saturday,” he said.
