Golden Slipper winner She Will Reign is set to kick off her spring campaign with a Melbourne run in the Moir Stakes 2017 before heading to Sydney for the inaugural edition of the $10 million The Everest.

The Everest-bound filly She Will Reign is set to run first-up in Melbourne’s AJ Moir Stakes 2017 in late September. Photo: Steve Hart.
Gary Portelli’s daughter of Manhattan Rain is one of the confirmed runners in the 12-starter field for The Everest 2017 run over 1200m at Royal Randwick on October 14.
The filly has a pre-purchased slot in the Restricted weight-for-age feature that came at a cost of $600,000 for Yulong Investments.
Portelli was originally in the anti-The Everest camp believing the buy-in event to be elitist, but has since warmed to the race that is set to attract the “best of the best”.
“At first we all thought it was an elitist race, that it was for the big end of town,” the Warwick Farm-based horseman told The Daily Telegraph.
“But now we are looking at horses going around that the average punter has shares in like She Will Reign, Fell Swoop and others.
“The elite part of the race is the person who is purchasing the slot because we are seeing that anyone can own a horse good enough to run.
“My owners and I would never have thought 12 months ago that we would ever have a runner in a $10 million race.
“The Everest is going to have the best of the best all in the one race.
“It is going to be a proper race.”
She Will Reign is currently listed as an $8 shot in The Everest futures betting at Ladbrokes.com.au, markets led by Chautauqua ($4.80) who won three editions of the TJ Smith Stakes at the track and distance.
Also high-up The Everest odds online is the Aidan O’Brien-trained Irish sprint sensation Caravaggio ($7) who has been confirmed to take the Coolmore racing slot in the event down under.
Manhattan Rain filly She Will Reign was a $20,000 bargain buy for connections from the 2016 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale.
She has had five starts to date for four wins and a second and has already amassed over $2.5 million in prize money thanks primarily to her runaway win in the Group 1 Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) on March 18.
She Will Reign lined-up in the world’s richest race for two-year-olds at Rosehill as an $8 shot, but relished the Heavy (10) track and beat home Frolic (2nd) by over two lengths.
Portelli is now looking at a first-up run in the Group 1 A.J. Moir Stakes (1000m) under the lights at Moonee Valley on September 29 for her spring launching pad which will be the filly’s first run outside of New South Wales.
“The plan is to give her a lead-up in the Moir Stakes in Melbourne,” he said.
Virage De Fortune (2005) was the last A.J. Moir Stakes winning filly, while the Mick Price-trained colt Extreme Choice won the race last year first-up after a Golden Slipper eighth in the autumn.
To back She Will Reign this spring and to access the best early The Everest racing odds, head to Ladbrokes.com.au.