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Joe Pride is hoping for a case of third time lucky as Eduardo begins another Everest campaign.

Any other horse might be looking for a retirement paddock at the age of nine, but Joe Pride says Eduardo is in the shape of his life and better positioned than ever to win The Everest. 

The top shelf sprinter embarks on his third tilt at the $15 million showpiece when he resumes in the Concorde Stakes (1000m) at Randwick on Saturday, a race that has been a campaign starting point for three Everest winners – Redzel twice (2017-18) and Nature Strip last year.  

"I think this is his best opportunity to win an Everest because he's heavier than he's ever been," Pride said. 

"The first one he went into, he'd only just got to Sydney, so we can put a line through that one. 

"And last year, I'd like it over again." 

Eduardo was coming off a late winter campaign in Sydney when he finished unplaced in his first Everest attempt in 2020 and off a Queensland carnival preparation when third to Nature Strip last year. 

Both times he bypassed the Concorde Stakes and had his major lead-up run in The Shorts. 

This time around, he arrives at the spring having not raced for five months, which is why Pride has opted for the extra run on Saturday before Eduardo follows his usual path through The Shorts to The Everest. 

Dynamic fresh, Eduardo is a $2.15 favourite to enhance his first-up strikerate after two barrier trials, and Pride is unperturbed that he was edged out in his latest by unheralded former Hong Kong galloper Joyful Fortune.

"He's a horse I protect at the trials. I've heard some people comment on it, but I keep him out of Group and Listed trials," Pride said. 

"He's a horse who doesn't need much pressure put on him to get him fit and I don't need him trialling against the kind of horses that maybe want to match motors with him until there's some prizemoney involved, and then I'm happy to match motors with them." 

Eduardo will be matching motors with last year's Everest runner-up Masked Crusader in the Concorde, while the speedy Malkovich and talented Godolphin sprinter Andermatt add some intrigue to the race.