Canonbury Stakes winner Blitzburg has been ruled out of the autumn with a bone chip, but trainers Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou might have unearthed a handy replacement in Warwick Farm winner King Of Pop.
The superbly related youngster, who hails from the family of super sire Snitzel, will be given the chance to qualify for the Golden Slipper following his determined debut performance in the Find Your Next G1W @ The Chase Plate (1100m) on Wednesday.
“I always thought he was my best chance in the Golden Slipper,” Ryan said.
“He was going to race in December and he pulled up shin sore so we gave him time and we’ll step him up now. We’ve got three races we can try to get him into.
“What I liked about today is he sat back off a hot speed and hit the line well.”
An $800,000 Magic Millions buy, the son of 2020 Golden Slipper winner Farnan is from an equine family that Ryan knows well.
The colt is a grandson of stakes placegetter Wiener, a half-sister to Snitzel.
“I bought his mother as a yearling, Za Zi Ba, and I bought the grandmother, Wiener and I bought her brother Snitzel, so he’s got a great pedigree,” Ryan said.
Ridden by Jason Collett, King Of Pop ($4.40 fav) wore down Savvy Hallie ($8) to score narrowly with that pair clearing out by more than two lengths over third placegetter Congressman ($6).
Ryan isn’t sure which race the winner will head to next but he is content to keep his options open.
“There’s the Skyline Stakes, Todman Stakes, Canberra (Black Opal Stakes), Pago Pago,” Ryan said.
“He’s a good doing horse and a gross horse so it wouldn’t worry me if he went to the Pago Pago and backed up like Hinchinbrook.”
Hinchinbrook was third in the 2010 Pago Pago Stakes before backing up seven days later to finish fourth in Crystal Lily’s Golden Slipper.
