The mind games have begun as the big guns of the sprinting ranks prepare to clash.
Eduardo’s trainer Joe Pride generally enjoys lighting the fuse ahead of any showdown between his top speedster and arch-rival Nature Strip, but this time around, Chris Waller has beaten him to the punch.
Two of the leviathans of Australian short course racing for the past few seasons, Eduardo and Nature Strip have matched motors 10 times with Nature Strip holding a 6-4 advantage, and the crown of the world’s best sprinter.
However, after watching Nature Strip work between races at Rosehill last Saturday, Waller cheekily claimed that his Royal Ascot conqueror would go into Saturday’s The Shorts (1100m) as the stooge.
“Eduardo has got the run under his belt and normally he would have us covered in this race,” Waller said.
“We might be going in as the underdog on Saturday.”
Eduardo did beat Nature Strip in The Shorts last year, but the latter has since gone on to win The Everest, his third successive TJ Smith Stakes and the King’s Stand Stakes in England.
Pride says that makes Eduardo the underdog and reckons Waller has been taking pointers from a certain NRL coach, who is renowned for diverting attention away from his team and onto the opposition.
“That’s a classic Wayne Bennett move, isn’t it?” Pride said.
“The punter’s elect doesn’t decide the result, but Nature Strip has too big a following to let Eduardo start favourite.
“And we’re comfortable with the underdog tag so we will carry that in there.”
The Shorts is shaping as a pivotal race on the road to The Everest (1200m) with the two hardheads of sprinting preparing to take on rising stars Mazu and Lost And Running, big finisher Masked Crusader and Classique Legend, who returns from a suspensory injury.
But it is the eight and nine-year-olds, Nature Strip ($2.40 fav) and Eduardo ($4), who are expected to fight out Saturday’s race.
Neither has missed a top-three finish in almost two years, Nature Strip since the 2020 Everest and Eduardo the 2020 Winner’s Stakes.
Eduardo has the wood on his foe in their only two meetings over 1100 metres and a fitness edge, but can he repel the champion? Or will another opponent put their hand up as the new kid on the block?
Waller isn’t sure, but he says one thing is certain: “It’s going to be a really good race, it’s as simple as that”.