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| Staff Writer |
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The 2021 Everest will long be remembered as the day that Nature Strip emphatically underlined his place as the top sprinter in the world. He took his syndicate of owners on an incredible ride that culminated in September 2023 when he was retired following a rare poor run in the Gr.3 Concorde Stakes at Randwick.
It was fitting that it was at the track that had seen his greatest moment where he ended his storied career. Majority owner Rod Lyons summed his feelings up perfectly: "I'm disappointed we're not going to see him again, but I'm really happy that he's retiring healthy, happy and going to a wonderful place."
Although retirement was beckoning for the nine-year-old, connections had hoped for a spring campaign. "We were hoping to get one more preparation out of him. We really felt he was working well - all reports were that he was doing extremely well. But until you actually get to the races, until you actually get under that race day pressure, you don't really know how he's going to perform. And unfortunately, in that race, he just showed us that, hey, I've had enough."
The peak of his career was without a question that October afternoon in 2021 at Randwick. While the winning margin was only 0.3l, it was the manner of victory that was the impressive thing. "He won races in the middle part of the race with his sheer speed and breaking the other horse's hearts, and then his big heart got him over the last 200 metres."
His Everest win mapped out like that. Gradually turning the screw on the front end, he had most of his rivals in trouble just after halfway but managed to keep enough to see off the closers as they ran him down in the last 150m.
The following summer of 2022, Nature Strip was sent to Royal Ascot to take on the best of Europe in the King's Stand. Sadly for those in the Northern hemisphere, they could not live with the sprinter who went there to "donkey-lick them," as Lyons wonderfully put it.
Few Royal Ascot winners win by as far as Nature Strip did, and he managed the feat over 1000m - it was a visually remarkable performance that his connections thoroughly enjoyed as he ran them ragged from the front to go further and further clear.
"My family comes from a relatively middle-class family, and to think that one day we could get over there and rub shoulders with the future king and queen and be in that environment it's something you couldn't even dream of. It's incredible.
The early days were a little different from the globetrotting superstar that Chris Waller had. He was not part of the Waller stable until 2019, with Waller becoming the fifth different handler Nature Strip had had in his career.
October 10th, 2017, was the day that the world witnessed Nature Strip in race action for the first time. The crowd who saw that 1000m maiden at Mornington will have no doubt felt that the winner was a fair prospect for the future, but nobody would have had a clue that the Robert Smerdon-trained winning favourite would have gone on to accomplish what he did.
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A road that led to Waller went through brief stops with Robert Hickmott, for whom he only ran once, landing the Inglis Dash before passing through John Sadler and Darren Weir. The early days are looked back on fondly by Lyons.
"The greatest memories, I guess, is when we, as a team, the syndicate, realised we had a really, really good horse. That was after he won his first couple of races and was stepping up through the grades. We started to realise we've got a really, really good horse here."
Eight wins in his first 12 career races made up for a very solid start, but none of those successes had come above a Group 2. It was not until he joined Waller that his Group one odyssey started, claiming nine wins at the highest level over the years.
It was only upon joining Waller that the syndicate first had an idea of what they could have. "Chris Waller, Sophie Baker, they just said this horse is a superstar. When you start to realise, wow, we've got something out of the ordinary, it's mind-boggling. We could have one of the best horses we've ever seen in Australia, maybe the world. It's a pleasant shock, let me tell you."
September 2019 was the first time that Nature Strip crossed the line first in Group 1. A five-year-old at that point, he matured late and just kept improving like a fine wine. Those wins included three in the T J Smith Stakes at Randwick in April 2020, 2021 and 2022.
The Sydney track was a course where Nature Strip was so often seen at his best, including four of his wins in Group 1 company. He ran in The Everest on four occasions, fourth in 2019 and 2022, seventh in 2020, and his 2021 win. That longevity was a massive part of his connection with racing fans.
Flemington saw him pick up six wins in 11 visits, while he won three out of four when he was in action at Moonee Valley. Such an adaptable type - his wins came on all grounds from good 3 all the way to heavy 9. Few can claim Group 1 wins under such contrasting conditions.
"He didn't dodge anybody. He fought all the great sprinters we had in Australia. He went overseas and took on the great sprinters. So, I think his legacy will be his durability and his courage to take on all comers. He never dodged a fight."
Nature Strip closed out his career with a 50% strike rate. The winner of 22 of his 44 starts and winner of almost 21 million dollars in prize money, he will be remembered as the finest sprinter of his generation. It is only fair to allow Lyons to have the last word on Nature Strip, which he did perfectly in just three.
"Champion, legend, superstar."
By Scott McGlynn