The winner of the most ‘preposterous’ front page of the day

Sydney’s desperation for spring racing relevance took a new form today: A bizarre front page of the The Australian newspaper today.

Cheerleading from the NSW racing media has become common when it comes to the lucrative Everest, but today the national broadsheet joined in.

‘New dawn: Everest, not the Cup, is Australia’s biggest race‘, the newspaper screamed.

The headline is not attributed to anyone, although the article hinges on comments made by trainer Tony McEvoy, whose main gripe seems to be that the Melbourne Cup attracts the world’s best stayers, making it harder for him to win, whereas the Everest is contested mainly by Australian horses.

McEvoy claims the Sydney sprint race is more conducive to “battler” fairytales — ignoring the fact that the race is dominated by incredibly wealthy people and businesses who buy slots for enormous amounts of money and then take a cut from any winnings.

Ross and John, as well as Herald Sun journalist Jon Anderson, were surprised by the comments and staggered that it made the front page.

“The Melbourne Cup has been in existence since 1861; the Everest has been held twice and won by the same horse on both occasions,” Ross opined.

“The suggestion that the Everest, not the Melbourne Cup, is Australia’s race is just preposterous.

“How it gets on the front page of the newspaper is quite beyond me.

Burnso found it particularly funny that “the race named after a mountain in a foreign country” could be considered Australia’s most Australian race.

“Is (Racing NSW chief) Peter V’Landys writing for The Australian now, is he?” Ando added.

“Tony McEvoy is normally a very sensible person, but that’s one of the silliest things I’ve ever heard him say.”