King Of Light launched what could be a career-defining season with a walk in the park victory in the LR Idyllic Prince Stakes (1300m) at Belmont on Saturday.
Appearing for the first time since December, the chestnut son of Earthlight (Shamardal) exploited a tailor-made run in transit to win with ease at weight-for-age from seasoned sprinters Snowdome (Rommel) and Ginger Baker (Gingerbread Man).
King Of Light (Photo / Western Racepix) is booked for a flight to the Sydney Everest Carnival where he will target the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) at Randwick on October 31. The Golden Eagle is held under Set Weights conditions for four-year-olds only and will be run as a Group 1 for the first time this year.
Fellow Perth raider Cosmic Raider (Maurice) is already bedded in for the Melbourne Spring Carnival with consecutive Caulfield wins in the G3 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) and G2 P B Laurence Stakes (1400m) hopefully leading into a grand-final of his own in the G1 W S Cox Plate (2000m) on October 24.
Australia’s weight-for-age championship is being run at Flemington this year with prizemoney of $6 million.
Trainer Dan Morton purchased King Of Light for $120,000 on behalf of a stable syndicate at the 2024 Perth Magic Millions Yearling Sale and Saturday’s purse sent his earning to $655,000 including Westspeed Bonuses of $88,000.
He went out a $1.50 favourite first-up just like the highlight of his last prep when he was an odds-on winner of the G2 WA Guineas (1600m) in November. “He had a long spell and looks great,” Morton said when quizzed in the enclosure. “He’s filled out and is coming on nicely. We rate him highly and that was a very impressive win.
“He probably won’t race here again before flying out. We will map out a Sydney programme and all going well he could be on a plane in the next couple of weeks.”
King Of Light (4g Earthlight – Queen’s Parade by Dalghar) was a bred by Kevin Berry and Darren McAuliffe under the Impressive Racing banner and he was offered (as agent) by Amelia Park in the Swan Valley.
His dam Queen’s Parade won a Northam maiden during a five-start career in the Impressive Racing colours before retiring to stud. She is a half-sister to G3 Tibbie Stakes (1400m) winner Spirit Bird (Savabeel) and has foaled three winners to date.
Her Brian Kersley-trained 3yo Blue Sparx (Manhattan Rain) won his maiden at Belmont last Wednesday and she also has a 2yo Blue Point filly that’s bred on the same Shamardal cross as King Of Light.
Regular rider Willie Pike reported the addition of a cross-over noseband helped keep King Of Light in line. He does have a tendency to lay-in but was much more tractable yesterday. “I thought he could be vulnerable first-up at weight-for-age over 1200m but he stepped clean and we sat on the speed,” Pike said. “We got to the front too early but it didn’t really matter. He was just too good for them.”
