King Of Light is fancied to propel himself into an eastern states campaign when he starts a hot favourite in this Saturday’s Listed $125,000 Idyllic Prince Stakes (1300m) at Belmont.
The Earthlight gelding exploded into Group 1 contention with a WA Guineas win last year but failed to measure up in the Northerly Stakes a fortnight later.
That was the chestnut’s lone defeat in a six-start career, and he makes his calendar year reappearance this weekend.
He trialled once in May before being briefly spelled again prior to two trials over the past month in a concerted plan by trainer Dan Morton.
“They’ve got to come back and take the next step for you,” Morton said.
“They have to continue to improve. He came off a high benchmark last go around, all except for the Northerly.
“But he’s matured beautifully and I’m really looking forward to seeing how far he can get.
“I didn’t want to leave him in a paddock for nine months, so we gave him a preparation block midway through (the year) to tick him over.
“It got him right through to that trial and then we put him aside again until this prep.
“We’ve kept it up to him gently and I feel like he’s at a good point of fitness to give us something to work with.”
King Of Light breezed past his rivals in that most recent hit-out, scoring by almost two lengths at Lark Hill on August 10.
However, he did have a tendency to lay in at stages of the home straight.
“You don’t love seeing it, but he is a horse that has done that before,” Morton said.
“We don’t think it’s an issue. I have added a nose band to his gear, which he does wear in trackwork, but he hasn’t trialled or raced in.
“He went arrow-straight there on Tuesday on the course proper at Belmont, out wide.”
The four-year-old is a $1.60 favourite to win upon resumption ahead of battle-hardened gallopers like Snowdome ($4.20) and Fluro Neuro ($6).
“I’m just excited to see him back on the racetrack, now,” Morton said.
“He’s pleased us throughout the prep and done everything perfect for us.
“You’re taking on some race-fit horses, which is always in the back of your mind when you first start.
“But I expect him to go there and go very well.”
Following Saturday and an anticipated success, Morton intends for King Of Light to travel to New South Wales for a tilt at the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) at Randwick on October 31.
“BJ (Ryan, racing manager) and myself mapped out a pretty ambitious plan for him in the east,” he said.
“He’s got to show up and some. It’s no good kidding ourselves and taking a horse just because (we can).
“If he goes great – which I do expect – and looks the goods and comes through the race good, I’m keen to put him on a plane and get him across to Sydney with the Golden Eagle being the grand final race for him over there.
“There’s every opportunity I’ll get to trial him once, possibly twice. There are good options for him and a few different options (before the Golden Eagle).
“That’s end of rainbow stuff. He’s got to continue to improve and go great on Saturday.
“I really think he will. He’s got a beautiful demeanour about him and he’s definitely the right sort of horse to try and do it (travel) with.”
In Sydney this weekend, two megastar mares of Australian racing will compare notes in the Group 1 Winx Stakes (1400m).
Autumn Glow ($1.85f) will be met by her younger pretender Sheza Alibi ($3.20), who is also likely to plot a course to the Golden Eagle.
In a late supplementation from trainer Peter Moody, Sheza Alibi will face her stiffest test in a career that has already reaped Group 1 triumphs.
“We are not thinking we just go there and win and be the dominant horse,” Moody said on SEN.
“We are going there to learn where we sit in the food-chain and being very respectful of her opposition.
“But we are not going up there to play marbles either.”
Autumn Glow, trained by Chris Waller and ridden by James McDonald, was expected to face an easy assignment until Sheza Alibi accepted.
“It certainly makes for an interesting start to the spring. Gets the elephant out of the room quite quickly,” Moody said of meeting Autumn Glow.
“It’s exciting and it’s good for racing. For me, it makes it a bit easier for my programming going forward because, to be honest, we are taking on the best horses in the country with the best trainer in the country and the best jockey in the country.
“If we can be ultra-competitive or lucky enough to beat them, the world is sort of our oyster, and we can go anywhere chockfull of confidence.
“If she beats us comprehensively – and I am not thinking it’s a two-horse race in any shape or form – we can duck and weave a bit and place our mare to advantage and not kid ourselves.”
Autumn Glow suffered defeat for the first time in a 12-start career in April’s Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) behind Sir Delius.
Now as a five-year-old, Moody says history tells him she’s only going to be better, too.
“Autumn Glow is the benchmark. She is the best horse in the country,” he said.
“We’ve got to lift our bar and for people to suggest Autumn Glow wouldn’t continue to improve, they are kidding themselves because I know myself training some good mares over the years, they keep getting better at five, six and seven.
“They don’t stop growing until they are about six or six and a half, so I am sure Autumn Glow is going to present bigger and better than she was.
“It’s a phenomenal field. We are not kidding ourselves. There are eight or nine other Group 1 winners there.”
Moody says the daughter of Saxon Warrior is not much of a trackworker and rises for raceday.
“The funny thing with her is you don’t get much of a feel at home because she’s not a competitive worker on the track,” he said.
“She’s very tradesman-like, she goes about her work and does as much as you ask her to do.
“She’s had a bombproof prep. She did the first six weeks up in Queensland in the beautiful weather there and she hasn’t turned a hair since she has been home in Victoria.”
Sheza Alibi will start from barrier one to Autumn Glow’s three, which could get awkward.
“They only get worse from gate one usually,” Moody said.
“You’ve got to cover more ground from the further you get out so I’d rather be there than (barrier) 15, but you need a lot of luck.
“The inside barrier cost me an Everest a few years back with I Wish I Win. Every time you step out there you run that gauntlet of having bad luck.”
The Randwick track is currently rated a Soft7, and both mares have proven adept on the surface.
“My filly has gone on soft,” Moody said.
“Do I want heavy track? No, not if I can help it, but I am not fearing the ground.
“I am fearing the fact that if you get a gut-busting run first-up, it can alter your spring plans.
“But the joy we have is that our target is still eight or nine weeks away in late October so we could come home and not have to run again before that if we did have a hard run.”