King Red winning at Gawler by 13 Lengths
We often highlight wins of note, pointing to the future etc.
We did it just this week actually when the boom Aussie bred 2YO Aethero bolted in with his head on his chest in Hong Kong.
But just have a look at this one.
Yesterday in a BM 60 at Gawler, a 6Y0, thank you very much, won by 13 lengths, leading all the way.
And he’s in at Morphettville on the quick back up this Saturday. This time in a BM 70.
But how has this happened? His name is KING RED (Red Element-Queen Of The Screen) and when he was racing in Queensland last year, nothing suggested he might turn into a superstar.
In fact he was as slow as a wet week.
Bevan Laming had him up there and after a series of last placed runs, he was transferred to Nikki Pollock’s tiny 2-horse barn.
She had a horse back then called Precision Strike, another 6YO, who also had run out of form in Qld when trained by Paul Jenkins. And these weren’t big races – they were low-key $16,000 type events.
Precision Strike had run last at the Sunny Coast twice in a row, then beat a couple home at Doomben, followed by a last at the Gold Coast before he was shipped to Nikki.
For her she ran 2nd at Jamestown in a $8000 BM 64 before being retired.
Anyway, along came King Red who boasted very similar stats when he arrived at her Morphettville stables in February of 2018. In fact his form was so bad he had beaten a combined total of 4 runners home at his past 6 Qld starts!
Even for her he ran last two times in a row before he finally started to show her something.
It all started in September last year when he won a $6000 BM 54 at Jamestown, narrowly, and remember Jamestown is about the slowest venue in Australia.
But that was a start. A couple more poor runs dotted his form so Nikki spelled him for about 7 months, finally returning him to racing in May this year.
It was on a very heavy track at Strathalbyn in an unsuitable 1200m BM 60 race over 1200m. He won it with Todd panel in the irons at huge odds.
Wow, buoyed by that he was sent to Balaklava a month later again in a BM 60 and this time he led all the way to win over 1600m…quite easily at $16.
Right there Nikki deserved pats on the back. She’d gotten this perennial last place getter to win a couple on the bounce.
But she and King Red wanted more so they raced at Gawler over 1738m in a BM 56 with 62.5kg, and Pannell in the saddle. On his Qld form he had no chance.
On his recent Adelaide bush wins, he had a glimmer of a hope.
Well, he jumped, ran to the front and won by 8 lengths eased down!
That was in June and then he went around yesterday at Gawler again in a BM 60 with 62.5kg. Up in grade yet he led again and this time won by 13 lengths.
It’s just a wonderful story of patience and faith and a change of tactics, and new stabling etc.
It gives every racehorse owner hope and I just hope he leads all the way and wins on Saturday at Morphettville again.
Well done Nikki Pollock.
Well done Todd Pannell and of course, very well done King Red.
