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High profile import Alcohol Free will be in the TAB Everest on Saturday evening if she tells her owner, and slot holder, Yulong she’s worthy with her first-up performance in the Group 2 $1m Precise Air Premiere Stakes (1200m).
The mare is one of two runners for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, alongside Hawaii Five Oh, using the Premiere to press their Everest claims and Bott said she's there to run well.
Yulong purchased Alcohol Free for AU$10 million with a view to running the multiple UK Group 1 winner in their Everest slot.
"She's in great shape, she's sharp, I feel she is going to be suited by the race,'' Bott said.
"A bit of improvement to come but she's there to get a good line on whether she's going to be competitive in an Everest.
"We want to see enough to give both of us (trainers and owners) the confidence to take that next step two weeks later and allow her to fill their slot.
"We want her going there to be competitive and off what I'm seeing at the moment she can be."
Alcohol Free made her Australian debut at The Championships where she started favourite in the Group 1 Queen Of The Turf over 1600m but faded to run tenth after racing handy.
That was after arriving and serving quarantine so Bott is happy the stable has had the chance to reset and start afresh with a horse whose credentials, including a Group 1 July Cup win last year, say on her best she could be an Everest contender.
"It probably was a difficult ask for her at the time,'' he said.
"She travelled over okay at the back of a long season over there but she's been able to refresh with a spell and have a bit more bloom about her.
"Hopefully it allows her to get back to the form we know she is capable of.
"She'll tell us all on Saturday. She's nice and forward for it, I thought her two trials have been excellent.
"She's a different filly to what you would have seen in the autumn so don't take any line through her run in the Queen Of The Turf."
Joao Moreira has the ride on Alcohol Free, $10 with TAB on Thursday, while Nash Rawiller is back aboard Hawaii Five Oh.
The four-year-old, a full brother to 2020 Premiere winner Libertini, ran sixth in The Shorts (1100m) when resuming two weeks ago and Bott said he's ready to lift from that.
"He's trained on nicely and 1200m is much more suitable for him,'' he said.
"He wasn't beaten far and I thought he worked into it well. He's a bigger horse that needs a bit of racing so I think he will improve a lot off that first-up run."
With four slots remaining – Coolmore, Chris Waller Racing, Yulong, and Aquis, who lost Sunshine In Paris from the race this week – Bott knows Hawaii Five Oh probably needs to win to put his case forward to run in the Everest.
He's a $9 chance with TAB on Thursday and at $21 is above Alcohol Free ($26) in the Everest all-in market.
"He's in the right lead up race to prove himself, all we can do it have him prepped for the right races and we'll leave the rest to him,'' he said.
"If there's any slots left after Saturday and he's able to run well he might be able to get somebody's attention."
