KIERSTEN DUKE: Sunshine In Paris could create The Everest history, while I Wish I Win among the favourites

It feels like the countdown to Christmas day, but instead of finding presents under a tree we’re all hoping to find we have the winning betting slip for the $20 million The Everest on Saturday.

But before I get into this bumper weekend of racing, I just want to clear up why I am not writing about my second love, NRL and NRLW.

With the spring carnival in full swing, I am changing horses, so to speak, and writing about my first love – horse racing – which I like to think I know a few things about as my day job is being a Sky Racing presenter.

Recently graced with Group 1 status, The Everest just keeps getting bigger and better.

This year is no exception with Royal Randwick offering something for every person in the near 50,000-crowd.

For the die-hard racing fans, this race card has it all. The richest race on turf has the support of nine other races, which are showstoppers in their own right.

For the country battlers it’s a chance to take the city stage and compete in the world’s richest race for country trained horses with a prize pool of $2 million.

Are you a Brit abroad? You will feel closer to home this Saturday with the running of the King Charles III offering a $5 million prize purse.

And if rumours are true, some familiar faces from Blighty will have us bowing in their presence and well and truly putting the “royal” in Royal Randwick.

I feel like I’ve made that hint obvious enough but just to clarify, no I’m not talking about Joel Corry who will be performing after the last race.

This popular British DJ will have the English and Irish flocking so if the streets of Bondi and Coogee are empty on Saturday evening, don’t panic, the party has just been shifted to the racecourse.

When I first heard he would be performing after the last race the Essex girl in me was screaming.

It feels like we’re bringing Ibiza to Randwick – God save the DJ.

Randwick will have a real carnival atmosphere with the Peacock Lounge featured in the general admission area of the racecourse for the first time with food from Sydney’s cult yum cha scene.

So, when you have a group one race worth $20m that attracts the best sprinters across the country how do you work out who’s the best of the best over 1200m?

I think the weather in the lead-up will play a huge role.

With both sunshine and rain predicted towards the end of the week racegoers will have to hedge their bets on an outfit, while trainers will be seeing if the track dries out.

Also will the rail be set in a true position or will it be out a few metres, making the track a tighter one and giving those on the inside barriers a greater advantage?

If you want to play it safe and not take a risk with the weather, then whittling down the field to runners who handle all grounds- good, soft or wet is the way to play it.

There are currently five runners who are sitting under the $10 mark on the TAB (at the time of writing) but only three of those are proven to handle all track conditions.

I Wish I Win, one of the older runners in the field at six years old, placed third in the TJ Smith Stakes on a heavy track, then won the Kingsford Smith on a soft track before placing third in the Manikato in good conditions.

If experience is what you’re after, then look no further than Bella Nipotina.

This seven-year-old mare has stacks of it over her younger rivals and much like I Wish I Win, has consistently run at the highest level in all conditions.

Last but not least, we have Traffic Warden, who dons the Godolphin silks.

He might be just a three-year-old but this fella proved that even as a two-year-old he could handle the heat when he placed second by a nostril in the Inglis Sires in heavy conditions.

His mature mindset and natural ability have seen him go from strength to strength throughout his career so far, but can he conquer the Everest?

More of an each-way player? There’s a horse for you too and she comes in the form of Sunshine In Paris.

Although there have only been seven editions of the Everest so far, it’s never been won by a mare, a female jockey or a female trainer.

Could Sunshine In Paris and trainer Annabel Neasham be the first?

This five-year-old mare could well and truly have the talent to do it.

Although she prefers a drier track, she’s proven on multiple occasions that she can still hold her own in the rain.

She recently had a trial at Warwick Farm and her performance has the jockey beaming from ear to ear.

If that’s not a good indication then I don’t know what is.

MY PICK: Sunshine In Paris

MY MULTI: Front Page in The Kosciuszko into Pride of Jenni in the King Charles III