In-form King’s Officer ready to salute for Robinson at Canterbury
AFTER a string of third-placed finishes, trainer Terry Robinson is confident King’s Officer can be first past the post in the Evening Star Cup at Canterbury on Friday night.
The six-year-old completed a hat-trick of placings in its first attempt in a race above 1600m last week, giving the gelding the ideal preparation for Friday night’s feature.
Robinson, who has said previously that the horse is a 2000m runner, believes King’s Officer is the justified $4.60 second favourite at Crownbet.com.au.
“He looks well placed,” Robinson told HorseBetting.com.au.
“He’s drawn a little bit wide, but he’ll probably get back in the second half of the field from that draw”
The horse will carry 2.5kg less than the other main elects in the market Olympic Academy ($4.80 at Crownbet.com.au) and Cauthen’s Power ($3.80 at Crownbet.com.au).
Robinson believes the weight relief, alongside a great record at the track which has seen King’s Officer finish first and second over two runs at Canterbury, will hold the gelding in great stead come Friday.
“He does get a good chance at the weight with the apprentice (Blaike McDougall) on, who has won on him and he has a good record at Canterbury. The only thing about the horse is, because he will be back a little bit, he does need an evenly run race for him to show his best.
“If they get along at an even clip he’ll be very competitive.”
King’s Officer will tackle the 1900m distance for the just the second time in its career, but the trainer is confident the last start performance over a longer trip will assist the horse on Friday night.
“He did run third over 2000m last start and he was probably doing his best work on the line, so a 1900m shouldn’t worry him… the only thing is at Canterbury can sometimes suit on-pace runners.
“If he’s close enough on the turn he will be very hard to beat.”
The majority of the Domesday progeny’s runs have been in metropolitan Sydney over the last year, but the team will look elsewhere this year after electing to skip the autumn carnival in the NSW capital.
Robinson believes a strong performance on Friday night would see King’s Officer head to the nation’s capital or the border town of Albury to compete for a country cup.
“We didn’t nominate him for The Championships, but there are a couple of cup races coming up.
“There’s the Canberra Cup and maybe the Albury Cup, if he goes well on Friday night we could consider, otherwise we’ll just play it by ear and see what happens.”
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