Sitting in the traffic, Magnier and Keogh hit the phones to canvas opinions. They speak to Storm Boy’s regular track-work rider, Adam Hyeronimus. “He’s come on since his last run,” Hyeronimus tells them.

The thoughts of jockey Nash Rawiller from Saturday after Switzerland won the Roman Consul Stakes started swirling in the heads of Magnier and Keogh, who’d seen both horses on the farm a few months ago. He was the best barometer for the eye test. They picked up the phone to arguably the world’s best jockey, Ryan Moore, on the other side of the planet. What did he think?

But the most feverish phone calls were reserved for the respective trainers, Bott and Waller, once they’d wiggled free from the roads.

It would be natural to think any trainer would be desperate for their horse to take up one of 12 spots in The Everest. Switzerland’s boss Waller was, fittingly, neutral about it all. He could see the benefit, but there was also risk attached.

It’s not because he doesn’t want to win The Everest. But with the stallion-making Coolmore Stud Stakes on next month against horses his own age, the thought of backing him up against prized fighters with age and experience on their side, seven days after his last run, didn’t sit entirely comfortable with him.

“At some point in the afternoon, Switzerland was going to be running on Saturday,” Magnier said. “But Adrian was so confident in Storm Boy, we had to take that into account.”

It sounds almost as if they had been talking to Bott’s training partner, Waterhouse, who is never one to undersell her horses’ chances.

“He’s very confident in Storm Boy and that he’s ready to win on Saturday,” Magnier said. “When you have a trainer like Adrian telling you that, it gives you confidence to make the decision we did.

“But It’s probably the toughest decision I’ve had to make.”

Now for the real question: is it the right one?

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Saturday will provide the answer but Magnier’s father certainly thinks so. Like any good son, Magnier sought the final approval from his father, Irish businessman John, who built Coolmore into a global breeding giant. Tom had to wait for him to be awake before phoning.

“I back the team in Australia,” John told him. “You’ve got the decision right 100 per cent.”

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