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By Ray Hickson

Trainer James Cummings is convinced a three-year-old will be the winner of the 2024 TAB Everest and, if he's right, says he couldn’t be taking a better credentialed member of that generation than Traffic Warden into the race.

Godolphin has had at least one Everest runner each year since 2018 with Bivouac’s second behind Classique Legend four years ago their best result.

Godolphin trainer James Cummings (Pic: Bradley Photos).

Only once has Cummings asked a three-year-old to take on the challenge of eclipsing the nation’s best sprinters in an Everest and that was last year as Cylinder ran fifth, just behind his star mare In Secret, and he was only beaten a length.

What’s different this time is that Cummings said he’s been deliberate about targeting the Group 1 $20 million TAB Everest (1200m) at Randwick on Saturday with Traffic Warden.

“I’ve had a really strong feeling about this crop of horses that they would do well at weight-for-age,’’ Cummings said.

“We saw it in the Moir, they filled two of the first three placings, in the Manikato a three-year-old looked all but the winner, and in the Schillaci on the weekend I was pleased to see the only three-year-old get up and win.

“He’s exceptionally talented and has great depth to him as a young colt.

“He’s run in all the good races he could feasibly run in until now, he hasn’t missed a big fight yet. And we’re still to see the best of him which is what I find fascinating about the horse.”

Traffic Warden, $7.50 with TAB on Thursday, is one of four three-year-olds in the TAB Everest with fellow colts Growing Empire and Storm Boy plus Golden Slipper winning filly Lady Of Camelot.

He’s followed the same path as 2019 Everest winning three-year-old Yes Yes Yes who contested both the Run To The Rose and Group 1 Golden Rose, running second in both, before he set a track record in his historic win.

The son of Street Boss finished strongly from off midfield to win the former while he was touched out by his stablemate Broadsiding in the Rose.

“What we love about this horse is that we have not seen this horse fail to improve every time he’s gone to the track,” he said.

“That’s a good sign for an up-and-coming three-year-old tackling these horses at weight-for-age in the hardest sprint race of the year.

“It’s good to be amongst friends in the Everest as far as Traffic Warden is concerned but there’ll be no friends inside the furlong when they’re all striving to win.

“He’s strong, he’s sound, he’s thrived on his training and he’s been deliberately set for this race this prep.”

Apart from Bivouac, Cummings has prepared third placegetters with Osborne Bulls and Trekking in 2018 and 2019.

Cummings wanted Traffic Warden to draw inside barrier four so he was rapt to land the two marble which only adds to his anticipation that 2024 could be Godolphin’s year.

“The opportunity for him to land a good draw, on a fair track, is going look good on paper,’’ he said.

“We’ve gone close. Second, third a couple of times, fourth and fifth last year. We’re close but I don’t feel like we’ve ever had necessarily a better chance than Traffic Warden in this makeup of the field.

“It feels like it’s aligned nicely so I think we can be excused for feeling a little bit nervous for the weekend.”

Epsom Handicap runner-up Tom Kitten and stablemate Pericles represent Cummings in the Group 1 $5m King Charles III Stakes (1600m) where the clash between Pride Of Jenni and Fangirl threatens to overshadow the Everest.

Tom Kitten is in line for a sizeable bonus if he can beat Epsom winner Ceolwulf home by more than one placing and finish in the top four in the King Charles with $750,000 going to the winner of the Emerald Mile Bonus series for those horses coming through the Epsom.

Traffic Warden runs second in the Golden Rose

The four-year-old had his work cut out in the Group 1 mile from a wide gate but Cummings was proud of his performance.

“His run in the Epsom was outstanding. It certainly eclipses anything he did last prep when he failed to fire,’’ he said.

“The horse delivered a big performance but the winner was always looming on our backside and was too hard to hold out and too good on the day.”

What Cummings likes about the King Charles III is the expected strong gallop.

“This might be just about one of the strongest run races he’ll find since he won the Spring Champion 12 months ago,’’ he said.

“How will he respond? He’s had the right grounding, he’s in need of a good hard run, so I think it reads interestingly for Tom Kitten in a race that has the propensity to add a lot of intrigue to an already impressive Everest card.”

James Cummings on Pericles: “He’s going to get a perfect run in the race. I like the idea of switching things up with the horse. He ran a race last weekend like he was going through the motions, so a back-up this weekend might just be the thing to spark that horse back up. There’s something interesting about bringing the horse back to the course at Randwick where he holds his PB, a second in the Doncaster back in April. I can see him getting a gorgeous run, his best chance of filling into the placegetters and getting his preparation back on track.”

All the fields, form and replays for TAB Everest Day at Royal Randwick