Darley Classic Next Stop for Redzel

Media Release - Friday October 20

As the euphoria that surrounded the running last weekend of the world's richest turf race subsides, attention has turned to next month's Group I Darley Classic at Flemington, which looms a rematch for many of The Everest runners.

Everest winner Redzel is headed for the Darley ClassicAlready Peter Snowden, the trainer of Redzel, winner of the inaugural A$10 million The Everest, has named the Darley Classic, the feature open-age sprint of the Melbourne Cup carnival, as his horse's next target.

"The Darley Classic would be the right race to come back for," Snowden said.

"A month between runs is perfect, it's a great time-frame for this horse."

Similar sentiments have been expressed by the trainers of other Everest runners with David Hayes, who sent out the runner up Vega Magic along with Tulip and Redkirk Warrior, is also looking to the Darley Classic as a logical next step.

"The timing is very good, it will come at the right time for a lot of the Everest runners from last Saturday."

"We'll have a look at our two older horses (Vega Magic and Redkirk Warrior) after they've had a chance to recover and will be looking at the Flemington race."

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Another in-form sprinter continuing the search for a G1 trophy this spring is the filly In Her Time who won Saturday's Everest "consolation", the Listed Sydney Stakes.

Snowden, meanwhile, likened Redzel's success to that of Darley stallion Sepoy who he trained to win Australia's juvenile double of the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes and the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes in 2011.

"It was kind of like when we had Sepoy  going into the Blue Diamond. He had won all of his lead-ups as well, and you are waiting for something to go wrong, but it didn't," Snowden said.

The G1 Darley Classic will be run over 1200m at Flemington on 11 November.

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