Joe Pride isn’t expecting King’s Secret to emulate the extraordinary deeds of his superstar half-brother Private Eye, but the Warwick Farm trainer is certain the gelding’s breakthrough in Thursday’s Listed Canterbury Sprint won’t be the last time he features in stakes company.
The lightly raced four-year-old, a son of Shalaa out of Confidential Queen, registered his maiden black-type victory when outstaying The Instructor in the $200,000 sprint at Canterbury. It was his sixth win from just 11 starts and pushed his prizemoney to $573,575 — still a long way shy of Private Eye’s $12 million-plus haul, but Pride believes the best is still ahead.
“He’s done a lot in these early stages of his career, but there’s a lot more to come,” Pride said.
“In 12 months’ time, who knows? He might go to the same level (of races) that his brother’s reached, not that I’m saying he’s going to be as good as him.”
King’s Secret will now enjoy a short break, with Pride mapping a potential path towards Group races such as the Maurice McCarten Stakes, Star Kingdom Stakes and Hall Mark Stakes.
If his Canterbury Sprint performance is any indication, he will be competitive wherever he heads. The $3.80 second favourite sat close to the pace and looked under pressure when The Instructor had him chasing at the 400m, but he dug in strongly, swept past inside the 200m, and edged clear to score by a neck. Barber finished another 1¾ lengths away in third.
Andrew Adkins, aboard for all but one of the gelding’s victories, praised the horse’s determination.
“He’s just a deadset winner, he tries so hard, he puts all his effort in and he executes really well,” Adkins said.
“That’s not really how I wanted to ride him today, up that close, but with the light weight and the favourite – I didn’t want to give it too much start around here – I needed him to be tough and that he was.”
