Why Everest is the best latest innovation in Australian sport

The racing was great on Saturday. Incredible stories about horses and people.

Harry Coffey, who has cystic fibrosis, won the major event, the Caulfield Cup, aboard Duke De Sessa.

But I think Everest, which Bella Nipotina won this year, is a phenomenon.

The best addition to any established sport in this country since day-night cricket.

Held for the first time in 2017, it quickly became the fifth major racing event. The eighth time is not the Players, not the fifth of five, it is clearly above the Golden Slipper and the Caulfield Cup.

The Melbourne Cup is an iconic tournament, but it’s at a really strange stage. The Cox Plate is our best race, our championship.

Everest is the most relevant for us. You know all the runners and they spend 12 months preparing to take their place on the field.

They run nicely as a consolation to the next 18 runners in the previous race. Then 12 title fights were selected. So in an hour you will see the top 30 sprinters in the country.

There were old sparring partners of previous winners, mixed with long-time winners, and a new crew, fresh blood.

They were collected from all over the country to take the photo. This is what the Melbourne Cup used to be.

Australia has sprinters and Everest is an absolute stage. This is the best innovation in Australian sport since Kerry Packer first invented day-night cricket.

This is the hottest race in Australia.

Saturday’s Cox Plate race will decide whether it claims the title of Australia’s best race.

“I think Everest is a phenomenon. This is what the Melbourne Cup used to be.”@Gerard Whately speaks #Everest is the best innovation in Australian sport since day-night cricket.@SEN_track | #Horse racing pic.twitter.com/9ZZvJD8B3q

— Whateley (@WhateleySEN) October 20, 2024