It was like feasting on an all-you-can-eat buffet.
And then realising there was another one next door with more tasty cuisine on which to gorge.
The Everest/Caulfield Cup day has proved that racing can have its cake and eat it too.
It was nirvana for punters.
Australian racing now has the perfect day.
Real box office stuff.
There is the snap and crackle of The Everest with its brash in-your-face vibe and Sweet Caroline blaring.
It attracts the youngest crowd racing has seen and is doing wonders to secure the future of the sport.
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Racing has increasingly come under pressure with wagering turnover falling in many areas.
Wagering funds racing – it wouldn’t exist without punters – and the turbo-charged betting bonanza on the $20m Everest is something to behold.
In terms of the world pool, the 2025 Everest was the biggest world pool race by turnover in history with an astonishing $HK83,024,693 ($A16.44m) wagered.
The Everest was first raced in 2017 but this was its finest moment as the world’s fastest horse Ka Ying Rising showed he was an equine Ferrari.
THE WORLD’S FASTEST HORSE WINS THE EVEREST‼️
Hong Kong’s champion Ka Ying Rising has beaten Australia’s best sprinters with a performance for the ages! pic.twitter.com/KokaDHzAKd
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 18, 2025
He was the first international Everest winner, he arrived at Randwick like a rock star and he left like one too.
There was another fairytale at Randwick, with Queensland veteran Rothfire turning back the clock and winning the Everest consolation race of the $2m Sydney Stakes.
Eight-year-old Rothfire has been to injury hell and back and an emotional Rob Heathcote put this win right up there with his former seven-time Group 1 winning superstar Buffering conquering the world in Dubai in 2016.
THE OLD QUEENSLAND MARVEL ROTHFIRE 🩷🖤
An incredible result in the Syndey Stakes as the 8YO Rothfire prevails for @zpurton!
What a training effort by Robert Heathcote 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/iKj0gOv7xB
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 18, 2025
Across the border in Victoria, Caulfield Cup day was also a hit.
While it might not have the energetic charisma of The Everest, it has tradition on its side and there were plenty of memorable moments.
Top of the pops was Jamie Melham becoming the first female jockey to win the Caulfield Cup.
Half Yours was the hot favourite and expected to win but Melham produced a peach of a ride when anything lesser and the McEvoys new staying weapon may have got beaten.
Bring on the Melbourne Cup.
HALF YOURS AND JAMIE MELHAM – IT’S HISTORY AT CAULFIELD 🏆
The favourite swamps them late to win a remarkable Caulfield Cup! The McEvoy father and son combo have done it as Jamie Melham becomes the first woman to ride the winner of the 2400M Classic 💪 pic.twitter.com/e56lVA3dW5
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) October 18, 2025
The other marvellous element of Saturday was it was all tied together by broadcasters Channel Seven who showed the racing action in both states side-by-side on free-to-air.
It was a smorgasbord for punters and it almost made too much common sense.
But common and sense are two words that haven’t always been associated with racing.
There has been a history of multiple broadcasters showing different interstate racing products on the same days, in a case of racing doing its best to cannibalise itself.
In terms of eyeballs on racing, the Everest deal brokered by Peter V’landys with sports streaming giant DAZN and Fox Sports 1 in the USA was a ripper.
The remarkable race was able to be viewed in hundreds of countries and potentially by hundreds of millions of new viewers.
This was an Everest specific deal, but News Corp has previously revealed V’landys is in talks for a world horse racing channel on DAZN which would be a real game changer.
V’landys is now confident he will get it done – and his history of deal-making shows you wouldn’t bet against him.
It would not only benefit racing in New South Wales, but also in Victoria and other Aussie racing jurisdictions.
Now doesn’t that smack of common sense?