Runner-up in The Everest twelve months ago, Private Eye stakes a claim for this year’s feature when winning Saturday’s $1,000,000 Group II Toyota Forklifts Shorts (1100m) at Randwick.
Caught three wide the trip under Nash Rawiller, the Joe Pride-trained son of Al Maher found a willing opponent in the front-running Vancouver gelding Overpass, which went down fighting a long-head.
The Supido 4-year-old came home strongly to finish a half-length back in third ahead of Godolphin’s I Am Invincible mare In Secret.
The 2021 Group 1 Epsom Hcp winner, Private Eye advances his record to eleven wins, three seconds, and a third from 28 starts with earnings of 6,866,185.
Pride said he hoped the 6yo gelding had done enough to impress slot holders and join stablemate Think About It.
“I know there is a fair bit of improvement to come,” Pride said.
I’ve said all week he starts his preparations off well; he’s a good fresh horse. But I’ve trained him a bit differently this time in. I haven’t been too hard on him, and I’d be surprised if he didn’t improve significantly at his next couple of runs.
“A bit of thinking to do whether we go to the Premiere with him or straight to The Everest, but we’ll take a deep breath and have a think about that.
“He’s an absolute chameleon. I was saying to my guys today, ‘I’ve got to stop trying to psycho-analyse this horse’. I swore this morning he was going to come here and be a real handful, run well but be a real handful, and he came here and he was as quiet as a lamb.
“He’s a horse that’s run a mile, a horse that’s now won a Group race over 1100m. He’s an unbelievable horse, but he keeps changing, and I’ve got to keep up with him as he’s changing.
“I’m pretty confident, all things being well, I’ll have two runners in The Everest. The two horses deserve to be there. That was exciting, I figured he was going to come back to what he was doing last spring, but you can never count on it.
“What you do at home doesn’t simulate that kind of pressure and it was the race pressure that was going to go either way for him today. He thrived on it, he looked a little bit tired late but he kept finding.”
A $62,500 Magic Millions Adelaide purchase for Proven Thoroughbreds/Pride Thoroughbreds/ from the Ambergate Farm draft, Private Eye was bred by Goodwood Farm.
The son of Al Maher is the best of three winners from as many to race out of Confidential Queen, a half-sister by Shamardal (USA) to Group III placed King's Troop from the family of Group I winner and champion sire Snitzel and Hinchinbrook.
It was a no-brainer that Proven Thoroughbreds / Pride Racing would have the final say at $100,000 for Confidential Queen’s colt by Shalaa (IRE) consigned by Goodwood Farm to the 2023 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Confidential Queen has a weanling filly by Shalaa (IRE) and missed last spring.
