Smith confident Kings Of Leon will be on song fresh
IN-FORM gelding Kings Of Leon is aiming to make it a hat-trick of wins for Matthew Smith at Wyong, and the trainer is confident his charge will be ready to go on Thursday.
The horse returns to the track after a 60 day let up, but comes into the race on the back of a strong trial performance at Hawkesbury where the I Am Invincible progeny won by over two lengths a fortnight ago.
Prior to the spell however, Kings Of Leon produced a pair of wins, including its maiden win and a brilliant back up six months later in its benchmark 70 debut.
Greg Ryan brings up a treble at #Tamworth as Kings Of Leon storms over The Wasp to the roar of the crowd to take out Race 6! pic.twitter.com/cdG5rfTdum
— Sky Racing (@SkyRacingAU) April 30, 2017
The horse has displayed an aptitude for racing well fresh in the past, and Smith believes the galloper is well-placed to make it three first-up wins on the trot.
“I think he comes in with a really good chance,” Smith told HorseBetting.com.au.
“I’m really happy with him. He’s work has been good so it looks like a really nice race for him.”
Kings Of Leon is on the third line of betting at the +550 quote via Crownbet.com.au to win the Kids Charity Cup Handicap Class Two at Wyong.
Smith believes the only concern is the wide alley coming into the seventh race on the card, where the gelding will jump from gate 10.
“He comes in ready to win, it’s just a bit awkward from the barrier,” Smith said.
“He’ll need a bit of luck from the barrier, but he’s in good shape.”
The trainer said that a good run in transit will see the gelding storm to the line well similar to its run at Tamworth.
“He won’t be going forward from the wide barrier,” The trainer revealed.
“He’ll get ridden like he was last start, where he’ll be comfortable and hopefully he can swoop around them.
“We won’t go forward at an 1100m at Wyong, he won’t have the pace to cross so we’ll just tuck him in behind there, wherever he’ll be comfortable, and hopefully they’ll go quick and he can run over the top of them.”
Although Thursday’s race will only be Kings Of Leon’s second competitive race start in 2017, the three-year-old has had a hectic schedule since returning in April.
The gelding has trailed four times amongst its one race day win, but Smith said there are no plans to put the horse out for a spell following the Wyong run.
“Keep going, for sure,” the trainer said.
“He had a bit of a freshen after his win at Tamworth. I wasn’t happy with his trial at Rosehill, so we went back and changed a few things then he trailed at Hawkesbury and he went well.
“So unless something was to go wrong he’ll just continue racing now through the winter.”
It took five attempts before Kings Of Leon finally broke the maiden tag, but the gelding was racing among much stronger fields at Kembla Grange, Hawkesbury and Warwick Farm.
A trip to the country was just the tonic the horse needed to break through, and while the three-year-old is yet to taste defeat following wins at Gosford and Tamworth, Smith said the plan will be to bring his horse into the Sydney metropolitan racing scene.
“He’ll race in town after this race definitely,” he said.
“He’ll either race in a mid-week in town or a Saturday race after Thursday … it just depends how they pull up.”
Smith said the turn around on when Kings Of Leon will take to the track following the race at Wyong will depend entirely on how well it recovers post-race.
“If they pull up well you can run them back a bit quicker than if they pull up a bit jaded or a bit quiet after the race we’ll generally wait another week or two to get them right.
“So if he pulls up well he’ll run within the next few weeks in town, and if he needs another week, we’ll just give him another week basically.”
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