After having her judgment questioned in one race, rising apprentice Rachel King has shown her ability to adapt in another to get the best out of Supply And Demand at Rosehill.
Earlier on Saturday, King was given a grilling by stewards over her tactics on Arbeitsam, the $2.30 CrownBet favourite in the Australian Turf Club Handicap (1400m).
As is customary with horses from the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable, Arbeitsam led but was a spent force at the business end of the race, finishing seventh, 4-1/4 lengths from the winner, Just Dreaming.
Stewards suggested the sectional times mid-race were too fast.
When it came to another Tulloch Lodge horse, Supply And Demand in the Kensei Handicap (2000m), King’s plans to get to the front were thwarted at the start.
Supply And Demand, the $4 favourite, settled behind the leaders and King produced him in the straight, where he hit the front and powered to the line three-quarters of a length clear of Tuchanchoo ($4.20).
“I had to go to plan D,” King said.
“He has been a bit fresh in the barrier.
“I thought I’d sit off them and he settled nicely in behind.
“I was banking on his turn of foot at the end. It was his first time at 2000 metres and he’s done a great job.”
Two weeks ago at Rosehill, King rode Supply And Demand to a 1-1/4 length win over the Hawkes Racing-trained Tucanchoo over 1800m.
He formed part of her first Saturday metropolitan double and she backed it up at Randwick a week later with another two winners.
King joined Waterhouse long before the trainer formed a partnership with Bott at the beginning of the season.
She had ridden in races in her native England but Waterhouse still wanted to make sure she was the finished product before she allowed her to ride in town.
But it was a country feature that stamped King as one to watch when she steered Stampede to win the Wagga Wagga Gold Cup on May 5, which set the ball rolling for her recent success.
