Pride bullish Private Eye can pack a punch in the 2025 Tramway Stakes

Randwick will host the return of one of the country’s most seasoned gallopers on Saturday when Private Eye tackles the Group 2 Tramway Stakes (1400m), aiming for his fourteenth career success.

Trainer Joe Pride was delighted with the eight-year-old’s first-up effort in the P B Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield, where he produced a strong win to signal he is back in business. A wide alley hasn’t dented Pride’s confidence. “The barrier doesn’t worry me at all. He’s a horse with really good speed,” he explained. “The best version of Private Eye is when he’s jumping well and rolling forward. He wasn’t doing that last spring, but now he’s putting himself in the race again, and that’s when he’s most dangerous.”

Private Eye has built an outstanding record over his 44 starts, banking almost $12.4 million in prize money. His Group 1 breakthrough came in the 2021 Epsom Handicap (1600m), and he has twice finished in the placings in The Everest, cementing his status as one of Australia’s most consistent big-race performers.

Pride’s connection with the gelding, however, extends beyond statistics. “He’s got his way of doing things and he makes me laugh. He’s a character,” Pride said. “He’s like part of the furniture in the stable—fast furniture though. He’s a beautiful horse to work with, and I can’t wait to see him go around again.”

Star jockey Nash Rawiller has been entrusted with the ride. Rawiller has already partnered Private Eye 11 times and has a strong affinity with the Tramway Stakes, having claimed it in consecutive years on Dreamforce. He now bids for a third title, this time aboard one of Pride’s most reliable campaigners.