It may have only been a barrier trial, but Bjorn Baker's Overpass sent tongues wagging as he scorched the turf at Rosehill Gardens on Friday morning.
The four-year-old entire pinged out of the gates in Trial 2, which featured four Group 1 winners including Zaaki and Fireburn.
Overpass, a son of Vancouver, is yet to score a slot for The Everest (1200m) in October, but his 8.9-length trial victory in a time of 55.94 over 900m is sure to have caught the attention of the seven slotholders without a runner yet.
While Baker wasn't on course at the trials, stable representative Glen Lobb spoke to Sky Racing after the heat.
“He was very impressive,” Lobb said.
“He jumped like a bullet and just kept going. He's pulled up terrific and hasn't blown hardly at all.
“He has changed a lot. He's really matured this time in and he's a real stallion now.
“It's very exciting to watch him go like that and very exciting for the races coming up.”
With The Everest looming as Overpass' target this spring, The Shorts (1100m) is likely to be where he races first-up.
The Group 2 sprint is still a month away, so the horse is expected to have another barrier trial before returning to the races on September 17 at Royal Randwick.
After prizemoney increases for New South Wales spring features were confirmed earlier in the month, The Shorts is now worth AU$1 million.
Both Redzel (2017) and Classique Legend (2020) took out the race en route to winning The Everest, proving it to be a key lead-up to the $15 million feature on October 15.
“Bjorn thinks maybe The Shorts, but he'll have another trial before he goes anywhere and Bjorn will sit down and have a good discussion with Scott Darby to plan out his program,” Lobb said.
“But geez, anywhere he goes, it will be very exciting.”
Overpass showed plenty of promise early in his two-year-old career, winning three of his first four starts, before failing to beat a runner home in the J.J. Atkins (1600m) last June.
While he failed to win a race as a spring three-year-old in three starts, he closed off very well in the concluding stages of the Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) and then lowered the colours of Forbidden Love and Anamoe first-up in January this year in the Group 2 Expressway Stakes (1200m).
Overpass is a +3300 chance with Bovada to take out the 2022 running of The Everest.