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By Ray Hickson

Changes to the Sydney Spring Carnival have moved trainer Clayton Douglas to confirm he’ll target a $30 million double with his Everest champion Giga Kick.

Trainer Clayton Douglas and jockey Craig Williams. (Pic: Steve Hart)

The star sprinter is already locked into James Harron Bloodstock’s slot in the TAB Everest, now worth $20 million, and Douglas said the shift of the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) back to November 4 fits into his spring program nicely.

As it happens the Giga Kick Stakes (1300m), run for $3 million, will also be staged on Golden Eagle Day in honour of the previous year's Everest winner.

Giga Kick, with earnings already just shy of $10 million from only 10 starts, is currently in pre-training in Queensland and is just under two weeks out from rejoining Douglas at Mornington and he can’t wait for the spring to arrive.

“I’ll definitely be going from an Everest into a Golden Eagle at this stage,’’ Douglas said.

“To be able to win prizemoney like that is phenomenal for a gelding like him.

“The three weeks suits. He’ll be three weeks into a second-up run, two weeks into a third-up run (Everest) then three weeks into the fourth-up.

“It looks a good target and it's a restricted race for four-year-olds, when you see he’s won at 1400m at Group 1 level the Rosehill 1500m shouldn't be a stretch.”

Only a select few have backed up from the Everest into the Golden Eagle since the latter was inaugurated in 2019 and Douglas said the extra time between races makes sense.

In 2019 Sunlight fared best running second while Arcadia Queen (5th) and Classique Legend (10th) also contested that edition of the Golden Eagle. Last year Overpass ran ninth on the two week back-up.

“You want the horse to be screwed down for the 1200m,’’ Douglas said.

“You’re running in a high pressure 1200m race so you’re not going to use the Everest as a lead-up run (to the Golden Eagle). He gets that extra week to get over the Everest run."

Giga Kick is currently $3.50 favourite with TAB’s all-in Everest market and $4 favourite for the Golden Eagle.

Douglas is adamant the chestnut will only get better and he says he probably just has to improve to a degree given he’ll be carrying more weight when he turns four in the spring – he won the Everest with 53kg last spring.

He’ll be asked to carry 58.5kg in his defence on October 14.

“I don’t think he has to be much better than what he’s shown so far,’’ he said.

“He’s got to carry a different weight this time around, being a four-year-old and not getting a weight allowance.

“We don’t have to prove that he’s a Group 1 class horse, he’s shown that. He’s an exciting horse and I can’t wait to get my hands on him.

“I think it’s scary to think he has got improvement in him.

"His last two runs have been in Group 1s and won them both, he’s been a winner at 1400m beating Zaaki and he came back to the 1200m and put them away quite well also.

Giga Kick wins the All Aged Stakes

“I think he’s going to take the next step. I always thought he was a good horse, he showed it in the Everest and he justified it in the autumn.”

The plan for Giga Kick, who won the All Aged Stakes and Doomben 10,000 in the autumn, is to resume in Melbourne in the McEwen Stakes then he’ll return to Randwick for the Group 2 $1 million Premiere Stakes (1200m) on September 30 then the Everest two weeks later.

There’ll be $87 million in prizemoney on offer through the Sydney Spring Carnival and TAB Everest Day has a new highlight with the inaugural running of the Group 1 $5m King Charles III Stakes (1600m) added to the program.

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