King Of Light confirmed public expectation and flagged a lucrative NSW campaign when scoring a dynamic win in the Listed $125,000 Idyllic Prince Stakes (1300m) at Belmont.
With surprising spright, the $1.55 favourite leapt brilliantly from the barriers before being restrained by William Pike to find an ideal trail in the one-out, one-back position.
With Snowdome ($3.70) and Final Siren ($23) heading affairs, King Of Light remained coiled like a rattlesnake behind the pacesetters before Pike poked his head three wide at the 500m.
Snowdome kicked into the straight with a clear lead, but Pike had yet to move on the promising four-year-old and when he finally did, the Earthlight gelding bounded into action.
Passing the 200m, King Of Light collared and claimed Snowdome, rushing into a race-winning lead.
Nudged out by Pike over the final 100m to make sure, King Of Light scored by a length and a half from Snowdome and Ginger Baker ($34).
Trainer Dan Morton was suitably taken by the effort, the galloper’s first race start this calendar year.
“I was impressed. I was a little bit nervous today that he could be vulnerable the way the track was playing,” he said.
“He’s probably a better horse a pair further back but he got the job done.
“We’ll let the dust settle and have a chat to the connections and have a think about what we do next.”
The $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) has been touted as the talent’s next target, run at Sydney’s Randwick circuit in late October.
“I probably won’t race him again here. BJ (Ryan, racing manager) and I will map out a programme and if we’re still happy coming to mid next week, we may put him on a plane,” Morton said.
“He’s naturally matured. We’ve always held him in high regard, but he’s come back good.
“It’s a fair while off. Nine months off, they can’t always just come back and be sharp for you.”
A cross-over noseband was applied for Saturday’s performance, the first time King Of Light had worn the gear under race conditions.
“He does wear it at trackwork all the time. He’s never raced in it but in that last trial especially, he had a tendency to just lay in,” Morton said.
“I’m not sure if it made a difference or if the horse just went straight but we took that chance.”
Pike said the horse’s tractability was far more controlled than the recent hit-out.
“He was much better today,” Pike said.
“In the trial, he wanted to hang in quite a lot. With the noseband on today, I don’t know whether that was it or not, but it worked, so it’ll be staying.
“He does have a tendency to want to lug in a fraction, but it was 100 times better than his trial.”
The champion hoop, bestowed WA Racing Hall of Fame honours on Saturday night, said the exciting gate speed expressed by King Of Light set up success.
“If I had’ve known he was going to step that like that, I probably wouldn’t have been so negative earlier,” Pike said.
“Once he stepped clean like that, I was so happy. We were just in a great position.
“I thought stepping up to weight-for-age at 1200m, I thought he’d be vulnerable,
“The A-graders weren’t out there today – we’re well aware of that – but I still did think at some stage I might be off the bridle and looking a little bit sketchy.
“But if I had’ve known he was going to step like that, I would’ve said, ‘don’t worry, guys, keep putting it (money) on’.”
Pike said he felt the horse could have been better served with a more delayed effort.
“It was a test for him. I don’t think he’s ever sat on the speed like that, so midway through the run I thought, ‘oh well, buddy, we’re going to see how you like this’ and he didn’t care,” he said.
“I got there (to the front) too early, but it didn’t matter. He was too good for them.”
