Ten Sovereigns© Photo Healy Racing
Aidan O’Brien swerved an engagement at Haydock last week with his three-year-old colt Ten Sovereigns due to unsuitable soft ground and has made the audacious decision to place the horse in quarantine ahead of a trip to Australia with a possible tilt at the world’s richest turf race on the agenda.
Ten Sovereigns produced his career best display when running out an impressive winner of the six furlong Group 1 Darley July Stakes at Newmarket on quick ground and on that form is one of the best sprinters in Europe.
He subsequently flopped when a well beaten favourite behind Battaash in the Coolmore sponsored Nunthorpe Stakes over five furlongs at York in August but connections put that poor performance down to a tardy start.
The 122 rated colt is certianly more suited to six furlongs as all four of his career victories have come over that distance and the plan is to head to Australia for the AU$14 million Tab Everest sprint at Royal Randwick racecourse in Sydney on 19th October.
This will be the third running of the six furlong contest and both previous renewals have been won by Australian sprinter Redzel. The eight-year-old Redzel is firmly on track to defend his Everest crown have recently won a Group 3 contest over the course at Randwick and the Australian racing community will expect to keep the prize on home soil once again as sprinting is something the Aussies take very seriously.
Despite Redzel’s domination of the event he is not favourite to win this year race as that honour is currently held by the fellow Australian trained Santa Ana lane at odds of 5/1. Ten Sovereigns is generally a simliar price for the race as Redzel at odds of around 10/1 but it is probably safer to wait until the final nominations for the race are known before seeking out betting tips for the race.
Ten Sovereigns will certainly have to bring his A-game to Australia if he is to have any chance in the Everest which is confined to just 12 runners.
Ten Sovereigns won by seven lengths on his racecourse debut at the Curragh last year© Photo Healy Racing
The race is run around a bend which will be unknown territory for the son of No Nay Never whos four previous victories have all been o ver a straight six furlongs.
Another potential problem for Ten Sovereigns is the ground conditions as he needs a fast surface to show his best. Last year’s Everest was run on heavy ground and if the ground does turn up on the soft side the colt won’t run and will instead be trained for the Melbourne Cup Carnival in November where there are two other decent pots for sprinters.
The ground is probably the biggest issue for connections of Ten Sovereigns as there are only 12 slots available for the Everest at a cost of AU$600,000 each and the horses must be nominated one week before the race.
The Coolmore Stud owners of Ten Sovereigns also have an Australian trained contender for the race in the shape Yes Yes Yes so if there is any doubt about the ground conditions a week before the race they may nominate that horse instead.
The winning owners of the Tab Everest receive a trophy encrusted with 7,777 black diamonds and a AU$6 million share of the prize purse.
