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By Ray Hickson

Dual Group 1 winning mare Snapdancer will represent the Inglis slot in next month’s $15 million TAB Everest and provide trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace with their first runner in the nation’s premier sprint.

Brad Spicer

A last start all the way winner of the Memsie Stakes, the six-year-old is already a proven Randwick performer and while she will need to produce a career best to win an Everest her part-owner Brad Spicer said she could be capable of that.

Snapdancer becomes the sixth confirmed runner in the TAB Everest, seventh if you include Classique Legend whose owner has a slot, and the first mare selected.

“She’s in career best form and has gone to the next level. Every time we’ve raised the bar with her she seems to have gone to it,’’ Spicer, who purchased the mare for $180,000 as a yearling, said.

“I’m excited to see her race against the best sprinters in Australia and see where she sits. She might be that horse that might go again to another level.

“She goes so well at the 1200m at Randwick, she's run good times there as well, so it puts her in the mix somewhere.”

In winning the Memsie, Snapdancer defeated subsequent Group 1 winner and last year's Golden Eagle winner I’m Thunderstruck.

Spicer said the plan is to go straight into the Everest without another race start but she will have a barrier trial to have her ready on October 15.

She’s a $15 chance with TAB and while Spicer concedes Nature Strip will be hard to beat he says to have a runner in the Everest is special and will tell everyone exactly where Snapdancer stands.

“If Nature Strip turns up he’s the best sprinter in the world so we are all running for second but as you know some horses, especially him, can have an off day and you have to hope he has an off day and we can rise,’’ he said.

“But it is a privilege to have a runner going up against a horse like him, proven against the best in the world, and it will be good to get a measurement on her and where she sits.

“We’ve been dealing with Inglis for over 20 years it’s great to team up with them. They see racing the way we see it so it is a good fit for all of us. Hopefully they are right in their decision.”

Maher said his whole team can’t wait for Everest Day and to see what their mare can produce.

“We’re very grateful to the Inglis team for selecting Snapdancer to be their Everest runner,’’ he said.

“For years we’ve sat back and watched the phenomenon that is the Everest and for Snapdancer to be our first runner it’s a really great achievement for the team.”

Inglis is yet to win the TAB Everest as a slot holder but CEO Sebastian Hutch points out that four of the five Everest winners are Inglis graduates.

He said Snapdancer’s win at Randwick as a four-year-old where she stopped the clock just outside the track record for 1200m illustrates her speed but she’s also proven not to be one-dimensional.

“She’s been ridden prominently in a number of her more recent high end performances but has the capacity to be versatile in terms of how she is ridden,’’ he said.

Snapdancer wins the Triscay Stakes at Randwick in February

“She seems to be pretty versatile in terms of ground. Ultimately we want to have a horse we feel is a winning chance or a candidate to go and be very competitive.

“On how she’s performed in her last three starts in particular you’d have to think she is (a candidate) if she can produce her best form or progresses further off it.”

South Australian Gytrash has been the Inglis representative for the past two years, running third behind Classique Legend in 2020, and Hutch said the company's Everest involvement is significant.

“We’re just delighted to be in the race first and foremost,’’ he said.

“It’s a fantastic spectacle that’s evolved into a concept that’s even outperformed most peoples’ expectations.

“The nature of our involvement is somewhat different to some other participants, having an involvement in the race we feel it’s an important opportunity to showcase our business.”

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