The Everest 2026 — this event has finished

The world's richest race on turf, The Everest has become spring racing's blockbuster — a high-octane sprint run at Royal Randwick in Sydney in mid-October, drawing a young, party-loving crowd to one of the sport's most electric days. Sydney in spring, all harbour sparkle and warm sunshine, is a glorious place to be, and the city buzzes for Everest day.

Rooms fill fast around the meeting, so book ahead. Stay in the central city or the eastern suburbs and you're close to the course, the beaches at Bondi and Coogee, and the harbour bars — a brilliant base for a sprint spectacular with a Sydney holiday attached.

The Everest is the boldest idea in modern racing: launched in 2017 and now the richest race on turf anywhere in the world, a blazing 1,200-metre sprint down the straight at Royal Randwick in Sydney. What sets it apart is its structure — rather than the traditional entry system, twelve slots in the field are bought or leased by owners and syndicates who then recruit a horse, turning the build-up into a season-long game of alliances and gambles.

The result is a race with a purse of twenty million Australian dollars and an atmosphere unlike anything else in the sport, pitched squarely at a young, exuberant crowd. Redzel won the first two runnings, in 2017 and 2018, helping to establish the event as the centrepiece of Sydney's spring carnival.

Held in mid-October, it lands when the harbour city is at its glorious best — warm sunshine, sparkling water and the beaches of Bondi and Coogee all within reach of the course.