Every Everest needs a fairytale, and this spring it might wear the colours of an $8,000 bargain buy. Spicy Martini, the Toby Edmonds-trained mare from the Gold Coast, stamped herself as one of Australia's emerging sprint stars with victory in the $3 million Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm in June — a first Group 1 for young jockey Taylor Marshall.
The win took the daughter of American Triple Crown champion Justify past $2.7 million in earnings — more than 300 times her purchase price — and prompted connections to bypass the Tattersall's Tiara and aim squarely at October: The Everest at Royal Randwick.
The mountain in the way
Waiting at Randwick is the horse many judges now call the best sprinter in the world — and some are ready to call the best they've seen. Ka Ying Rising, Hong Kong's champion, returns to defend the Everest crown he won in 2025, and the world's top-ranked sprinter has been preparing for exactly this defence.
That is the equation facing every slot-holder this spring: take the proven mountain, or back the story still being written.
