There was a gallop at Bong Bong Farm last Monday that made the Ciaron Maher stable believers in Tempted.
Six days out from her Run To The Rose return, the Street Boss filly breezed up the inclined gallop like nothing before her, not even last year’s Everest hero Bella Nipotina.
The only concern came when they got the data on the gallop, if she had overdone it, even though her recovery was outstanding.
It opened the door to realistic Everest dreams.
However, it takes until raceday to know and when Tempted was on her toes in the mounting yard and the strapper had trouble getting lead off her once she got onto the track, fears would have heightened.
She was carrying a Group 2 penalty from her Reisling Stakes and Percy Sykes Stakes wins, but in 69 seconds she proved she might be the best of her generation, a tag she could have already had if not for a checked passage in the straight of the Golden Slipper.
As Maher legged up jockey Ethan Brown he said: “You’ll enjoy this one, old son.”
That gives an insight into what Maher’s thoughts were to believe The Everest is on her agenda.
Tempted went from midfield on the turn to a 1-1/2 length win.
It was Godolphin’s fifth straight win in the Group 2, but none of them have managed to land the Golden Rose two weeks later. Only Bivouac in 2019 has completed the double for the Blue Army.
Godolphin had runner-up Beiwacht on Saturday, so it would be tempting to split them up in different Group 1s.
“You can see she doesn’t carry a huge amount of weight. You can see her coat coming on,” Maher said. “I’ll have a chat to the team [at Godolphin]. I’d say she has a lot of options. We can discuss [The Everest]. It probably wouldn’t be beyond her. Three-year-olds have a good record in the race. She might be one out of the box.”
It is a decision that will come in the next week, but lean towards The Everest where Godolphin has a slot and wants to add it to their haul of majors around the world.
The fabulous filly doesn’t need a lot of work and fires fresh, so five weeks might be perfect for her to take on the best sprinters in the world.
