No Mountain Too High for Masked Crusader

Underscoring why he is amongst the leading protagonists for 2021’s $15 million The Everest (1200m) at Royal Randwick in October, rising star sprinter Masked Crusader (Toronado) showed an electric turn of foot, coming from last at the turn to win eased up when resuming in Caulfield’s Gr3 The Heath 1100. It’s now game-on for the Hawkes Racing-trained 5YO gelding who was resuming after a Group 1-winning autumn preparation and showed he was set for a huge spring with a win that was eye-popping enough for bookmakers to move him onto the second line for the world’s richest turf race. He is now a $6 chance alongside last year’s winner Classique Legend (Not A Single Doubt) and last year’s beaten favourite Nature Strip (Nicconi) who once again heads boards after a facile trial win last week. The Hawkes’ teamed up with Cameron Cooke Bloodstock to purchase Masked Crusader for $340,000 from his breeder Gilgai Farm at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale and has now banked $1.17 million in earnings for connections. Co-trainer Wayne Hawkes revealed that Masked Crusader’s logistics for The Everest are flexible. “With us it doesn’t matter, we’ve got stables in both cities, he could do his last bit of work here on the Tuesday and go up [to Sydney] on the Tuesday night or go as late as the Thursday night, we’ve got a lot of options. We just wanted to get past today firstly.’’

MASKED CRUSADER IS A STAR!

HE'S BACK IN BUSINESS. pic.twitter.com/xuiTMGJiVi

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) August 28, 2021