Warwick Farm trainer Matt Smith has yet to receive a call from any Everest slotholder about his sprinter Headwall, but it is not a surprise to him.
The six-year-old has form littered with horses already locked away for the $20 million sprint and other Everest contenders from an autumn where he gave a hint of his potential.
“He didn’t win, and if I was a slotholder, I would want to see a horse do it,” Smith said ahead of Headwall’s return in the Concorde Stakes at Randwick on Saturday. “He has to earn the respect a slotholder in the next month to get in The Everest, and I think he will, but you only do that by winning.”
Headwall earned more than $1 million in a four run campaign that finished being tipped out in the final strides of the Quokka in Perth.
Before that near miss he’d stepped into Group 1 company as if he belonged starting with a fourth to Jimmystar in the Oakleigh Plate, followed by being runner-up in the Newmarket to Joliestar and a luckless third in the TJ Smith behind Briasa.
“He is up there with those horses, but he didn’t win,” Smith said. “He had excuses, but people wanting to win an Everest don’t want excuses, they want winners. I feel if he won the Quokka he might have a spot now, so we are out to prove a point that he’s an Everest horse by winning on Saturday.”
The late-maturing Headwall battled shin soreness early in his career, which has netted six wins in 17 outings, five over the 1000m of the Concorde Stakes.
Smith was careful to let him mature and had a bone chip removed from a fetlock in 2023.
“I always thought he would get to this level, it just took a year or two longer than I thought,” Smith said. “We had to keep him to the shorter courses because he is a horse that really hits the ground hard. His bones have just got stronger, and last prep we saw what he can do in the Group 1s and I’m a bit disappointed he didn’t win one.”
While Jimmystar, who runs for the TAB in The Everest and is a rival again on Saturday, looked spectacular in the Oakleigh Plate, Headwall was looking for runs back to the inside.
“Harry Coffey rode him that day, and I told him to stay near the fence because I was worried about getting around Caulfield for the first time,” Smith said. “He came back and said ‘I have never been on a horse that was still on the bridle at 150m in a Group 1 like he was. We just couldn’t find a run.’ I’m sure he could have got a lot closer to Jimmystar.”
“In the Newmarket, we had to go back from an inside draw and come through them and he was taking ground off Joliestar late. Then in the TJ, he didn’t get clear until the last 150m again, so he is due a change of luck.”
