Destiny’s Kiss never ceases to amaze trainer Joe Pride who is not afraid to throw him in the deep end in the Metropolitan Handicap.
The nine-year-old, who is raced by Nick Moraitis, is a favourite with both trainer and owner.
Pride has long had Saturday’s 2400m-feature in mind for the 72-race veteran and doesn’t believe he will be out of place.
“He’s got the three saddlecloth in a Group One. That says a lot about the depth of the race. It’s not the strongest Metrop on record,” Pride said.
The Chris Waller-trained Who Shot Thebarman, also a nine-year-old, is the only Group One winner in the field and is equal topweight on 57kg with stablemate Libran.
Libran was also the $5 joint favourite to back up his win in the Group Three Kingston Town Stakes (2000m), while the TAB quoted Destiny’s Kiss at $23 on Friday.
Destiny’s Kiss has two Group One starts on his record – last year’s Sydney Cup and the 2015 Doncaster Mile – and failed to run a place in either.
Despite a perceived lack of depth, The Metropolitan still shapes as a tough assignment for the recent Wyong Gold Cup winner.
“It’s not going to be easy for him but I feel like he’s justified a crack at the next level up. It might be a couple of levels up. He loves Randwick and he loves the mile-and-a-half,” Pride said.
An unexpected shower would take the sting out of a surface but Destiny’s Kiss did win on a good track at Wyong and backs up from his fifth to Metropolitan rival Broadside in the Newcastle Gold Cup two weeks ago.
“He’s an amazingly consistent horse and the way he’s going at the moment is as good as he’s been,” Pride said.
“It’s another opportunity for him and with a bit of luck in running, hopefully he can pick up a nice cheque,” Pride said.
Destiny’s Kiss has amassed $1.1 million prize money since his debut in 2011.
“I’m finding it hard to believe I’m ever going able to retire him. He’s so sound. There’s really nothing wrong with him,” Pride said.
“It’ll be interesting to see what actually brings that (retirement) about.”
The Waller-trained Antonio Giuseppe shares favouritism with Libran while Life Less Ordinary ($5.50) rounds out his four-pronged assault.
