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“Glorified barrier trials”: Haylock slams pre-Everest sprints
Connor Scanlon • August 10th, 2026 1:24 pm
After the running of the Group 2 Missile Stakes on Saturday, racing analyst Tom Haylock has slammed that race, and other sprints, for being a non-competitive trial purely for the $20 million Everest.
Haylock explained that there was no horse legitimately gunning to claim victor in the $300,000 sprint on Saturday, referencing the pre-race favourite Angel Capital not really being there to win.
“Just on the Missile, I'm laying these races. I say this every time of year, we get these rich races, which they're trying to push to Group 1 races as well, like The Shorts (1100m)… They're glorified barrier trials!” Haylock exclaimed on SENTrack’s Lay Back.
“That was the huge question with the Missile – who was there to win? We've got Angel Capital coming to the Memsie in a few weeks – that will be his Grand Final – so he wasn't really there to win and not at his peak.
“There's often horses with this massive carrot of The Everest – they just go around, doom de doom, slow tempos, run on, trial, tune up for an Everest.”
The analyst continued expressing his frustration at these races, stating that he is “over them”.
However, given that the 2025 Everest winner, Ka Ying Rising, is likely to return and wallop the Aussies in the world’s richest sprint on turf this year, Haylock viewed that as a good thing.
He explained that by the Hong Kong horse returning to Randwick, it will motivate all the other owners and trainers to race their horses more competitively in pre-Everest sprints.
“Hopefully this year if Ka Ying Rising comes, he will be likely to start at $1.40, there will be some intent (for Australian horses) to win some of these high-priced rich sprints before The Everest,” said Haylock.
“And hopefully they will be more competitive races. I'm just a bit over them; they're just barrier trials!”
Click here to read about how the winner of the Missile Stakes will likely secure a slot in The Everest!
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