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By Craig Kerry (Newcastle Herald)

It's not everyday a trainer is asked where their application is for a spot in the world’s richest turf race. Newcastle trainer Ben Smith, who has just nine boxes at Newcastle Racecourse, was out walking horses on Friday when he received that exact call.

Smith had sent boom mare In Her Time for a brief let-up after a gutsy third in the Group 1 Tattersall’s Tiara (1350 metres) on June 24 at Doomben with a view to the Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on October 27.

The first annual $10 million The Everest (1200m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday 14 October wasn’t big on his radar. Smith had not received any interest from the 12 The Everest slot owners, who each paid $600,000 to have a runner in the race.

That was until an Australian Turf Club official rang on Friday.

“They said ‘we haven’t received your application yet,’” Smith recalled with a laugh. “I said, ‘mate, I haven’t done it’. I had to ring a mate. I was out walking horses. I said ‘mate, we better fill this form out’. It was a bit last-minute but we got it in.

"We’ll see how it pans out. We’ve got everything in order if we do happen to get a call-up, so we’ll just wait and see if they do start talks with us.”

Click on the following link to read the full article - In Her Time trainer Ben Smith welcomes surprise call for The Everest