The field for Saturday’s $500,000 WA Guineas at Ascot has several genuine contenders in the lineup … and it also puts into play what could be a mouth-watering rematch between King Of Light and Heeza Phoenix.
King Of Light and Heeza Phoenix clashed two weeks ago when they both went into the Listed Fairetha Stakes with unbeaten records.
Heeza Phoenix really laid down the gauntlet from the front that day and, although the colt was ultimately run down late by the flying King Of Light he certainly lost no followers in defeat when only going down to a very smart opponent by 0.37 lengths in the last strides after doing all the work up front while King Of Light was tucked away early and saved up for a run.
“I was rapt with the run.” said trainer Mitchell Pateman, talking to Racing WA. “It wasn’t Grand Final Day and he (Heeza Phoenix) rolled at very good sectionals and only got run down with less than 50m to go.
“So, yeah, with the improvement he had to cone, I was rapt.
‘Obviously, he has come on since that first run.” Heeza Phoenix was first-up in the Fairetha Stakes. “He hadn’t run for six weeks.
“He is improving all of the time, which is a good thing. He needs to.
“He’s tightened up a bit now … and, you know, he’s only had the three runs so he is improving in his racing and, at home, he is starting to smarten up, relax a bit better … and he is starting to get most things right where he got a few things wrong before.
“He is a bit of a forgotten horse on Saturday, I think,” continued Pateman. “He’s blown out to double figures now and I don’t think he should be.
“I thought it was as good a run as the first horse (King Of Light) and third horse (Rock Fest) last run.”
“The barrier doesn’t really matter to him. He’ll roll forward and get a spot on speed. That works out well for him.”
King Of Light, unbeaten in four starts, is currently the $1.90 favourite for the WA Guineas. Rock Fest is second favourite at $3.90. They are the only two horses quoted at odds of $10 or under. Heeza Phoenix is at $12.
