Haut Brion Her on road back from autumn setback

Gun sprinter Haut Brion Her is in a race against the clock to be ready for a crack at The Everest as star stablemate Nature Strip continues to make steady progress towards the $15m feature.

Trainer Chris Waller already has Nature Strip locked into his The Everest slot for 2021 and Haut Brion Her shapes as his stable’s top seed to join the multiple Group 1 winning sprinter in the race.

Haut Brion Her ran a credible fifth in the 2020 The Everest, beating home Nature Strip, despite being the last horse picked for the feature.

The daughter of Zoustar is considered a leading contender to claim one of the remaining slots for this year but currently remains in the paddock after suffering a setback in The Galaxy during the autumn.

“She has had a longer spell so we will know in the next couple of weeks if she will be ready in time for The Everest,” Waller confirmed.

“She needs a longer break because she had a bit of a setback after her run when she gave her ligament a bit of a twinge.

Chris Waller with Haut Brion Her before last year’s The Everest. Photo: Mark Evans/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

“We have given her a longer spell but she is coming along nicely and we will know in a couple of weeks whether she is on track for an Everest or wait until later in the spring.”

Haut Brion Her is rated a $21 chance in The Everest betting.

There are currently four slots filled for this year’s race with Lost And Running (TAB), Gytrash (Inglis) and Masked Crusader (Max Whitby, Neil Werrett and Col Madden) joining Nature Strip.

A fifth slot is highly likely to be filled by Classique Legend, with owner Bon Ho managing a slot, while Godolphin also own a slot that they will use for one of their own runners.

It leaves six slots on the table for The Everest when it takes centre stage again at Randwick on Saturday, October 16.

Nature Strip won the TJ Smith Stakes. Photo: Mark Evans/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

Waller’s star sprinter Nature Strip is the $4.50 favourite to win The Everest at his third attempt and is back in pre-training before returning to his Rosehill stable later this month.

“I haven‘t rushed him because he spent so long away and he struggled through the winter last preparation,” Waller said.

“His coat never looked right so I thought we would start him later. Sometimes we over prepare them.

“He will either trial on the 9th or the 17th and we will map his first up run from there.”

“It will depend if we run him in the Concorde or we hold him back to The Shorts.”

The Group 3 Concorde Stakes (1000m) is run September 4 at Randwick while the Group 2 The Shorts (1100m) is two weeks later at the same track.

Our star sprinter is back in work preparing for his Spring campaign. His pre-training consists of trackwork, walking on the salt water walker & spending his days in the paddock. #NatureStrip@SkyRacingAU@anz_news@7horseracing@[email protected]/u7R7bVP8bL

Originally published asWaller star in fitness race for The Everest tilt

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