Sam Clipperton and Think About It are a formidable partnership and they kept their nine strong winning streak going in the $20million Everest at Randwick on Saturday when holding off I Wish I Win to score an outstanding victory in a blistering 1:07.64 seconds, just a tick outside the race and course record held by Yes Yes Yes.
Prepared perfectly by Joe Pride, Think About won a pair of G1 sprints during the Brisbane Winter Carnival and resumed with a win in the Group II Premiere Stakes two weeks ago.
Drawn ideally in gate five, Think About It enjoyed the run of the race settling just off the pace and when Sam Clipperton asked for an effort, Think About It worked through his gears and steamed to victory with I Wish I Win closing late for second beaten half a length.
“I don’t think I’ll feel pressure anymore in any race after that,” said Pride, who also saddled third place-getter Private Eye.
“You feel like Edmund Hiliary, once you climb Mount Everest, what do you do after that? I’d love to climb it again but it’s not going to feel as hard next time.
“(It has been) the slowest week of my life. I thought it would rush by and it has been a really slow week that felt like when you’re in a dream and you’re running, it felt like that all week.
“It was a week I promised myself I was going to try to enjoy, and I can’t say I did, but I’ll enjoy this.”
Running for the Newgate slot in the Everest, Think About it kept his winning sequence of nine wins on the trot going and now boasts the overall record of 11 wins from 12 starts with prizemoney of $10.9million.
“I had such a nice run in the race and travelled so well. This stuff doesn’t happen, it just went too perfect. I guess that’s what very good horses do, maybe even champions, they eliminate the opposition,” said Sam Clipperton.
“I’m just so privileged to be in a position of riding this horse. I can’t believe it. I was visualising this since he won The Premiere, I just thought he’s got too many gears they won’t beat him. I couldn’t say that out loud but that’s what I felt and he’s just proven me right.”
A $70,000 Inglis Premier purchase for Proven Thoroughbreds / Joe Pride Racing from the Newgate Farm draft, Think About It was bred by Lightning Thoroughbreds and foaled and raised at Newgate.
“To see a horse that was foaled, developed and sold by Newgate win an Everest is what it’s all about,” said a delighted Henry Field, who chose Think About It for the Newgate slot following the Brisbane Winter Carnival.
“We really wanted to support a Newgate horse and I follow all the horses that we breed very closely and I knew this horse and how good he was and I knew how Joe thought of the horse. It’s just great to be part of the circle. He’s a great horse and he has the most unbelievable will to win, which is the most valuable asset any racehorse can have.”
Think About It is the best of three winners from Tiare, a winning half-sister by Flying Spur to Group II winning sprinter Keen Array. His grand-dam is by Zabeel and the family features two Group I winners in Hong Kong in The Duke and Sky Field, so there is plenty of quality on the page and So You think has produced Group I winners from daughters of both Flying Spur and Zabeel.
Tiare was sold through the Newgate Consignment at the 2021 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale for $150,000 to Tasmania based Grenville Stud. She sadly died earlier this year and her final foal is a yearling colt by Wootton Bassett (GB).
