The Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott barn have trained the first three past the post in the Group 3 Breeders’ Plate (1000m) at Randwick on Saturday afternoon, with King Kirk ($8.00) proving best of the boys in the $250,000 two-year-old feature.
The son of Group 1-winning sire Ole Kirk was ridden quietly towards the rear of the field by Rachel King, allowing stable companion North England ($4.60) to scoot along at a genuine tempo throughout the 1000m journey.
Tempestuous ($9.00) got the lovely sit in behind the speed and looked to be travelling well under Nash Rawiller, while Tuscany ($2.50) was heavily backed and got every chance mid-field with cover for James McDonald.
As is usually the case in a field of unraced two-year-old, many got the speed wobbles turning for home, with North England the first to be asked the ultimate question by Tim Clark.
He responded in kind, putting a couple of lengths on his rivals, however, once King Kirk got to the middle of the course, there was only one horse you wanted to be on as he was going to two to their one in the final furlong.
2024 Group 3 Breeders’ Plate – King Kirk
Adrian Bott was on course to represent the stable and couldn’t have been happy with the performance of his debuting colt.
“He’s a lovely horse,” said Bott.
“Everything that he’s done to date has just been very professional.
“He got a bit further back than expected today in the run, and it was a great effort to pick them up there in the final strides. Exciting horse going forward and rightly so, they (owners) should all be excited.
“I think he’s a Magic Millions horse, so I’d say that’s first and foremost, the main target for him. We’ll look to give him a spell now and work back from there.
“And obviously, big picture you’re always looking for the Golden Slipper.”
Rachel King was elated with the victory as well as she spoke to the media personnel coming back to scale.
“He’s smart,” said King.
“He’s got a brain to go with the talent, which is nice to see. Not many two-year-olds would do that first start.
“He was a little bit revved today, he knew what it was about, he switched on from the trials, but I loved the way he came back under me, relaxed, took a nice deep breath around the corner, and I knew he was going to be strong late. He really deserved that.
“There’s plenty more to come. He got past the horses on his inside and wandered a touch.
“He’s still learning how to really put them away. So he’s going to go out and strengthen up, and be bigger and stronger.”
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