With only one start in the last six years, rising 9yo gelding King’s Bay, a South African-foaled son of King Of Kings will have his first start for Warwick Farm trainer David Pfieffer in Saturday’s ATC Member Handicap (1000m).
Having initially started his race career here in South Africa where he recorded six wins from nine starts including a solid fifth behind the Australian-bred Willow Magic (Dubawi) at Gr1 level, King’s Bay found his way to Singapore, before heading to the Shea Eden stable in Victoria where a start at Moonee Valley over 955m in October 2017 was his last start.
King’s Bay (photo: Gold Circle)
King’s Bay is a Sugar Hill homebred by King Of Kings out of Rose Bay – who Doug Campbell raced. He couldn’t sell him for R60 000 as a yearling, so initially ran the colt himself.
“We were very reluctant to sell him,” Doug Campbell recalls, “but they made such a huge offer at the time we couldn’t turn it down. He went to Singapore and had one trial and did a tendon. It was very disappointing because he’d never been lame here at all.”
With two barrier trials under his belt leading into the final race at Randwick on Saturday, King’s Bay will be an outsider, but for connections to persist for so long with the gelding, it must suggest he shows ability. While Pfieffer isn’t expecting a win, he is looking forward to a positive run.
“He’s a different style of horse,” Pfieffer told Racenet.
“It will be good to see him get back to the track. There is probably a bit of a question mark on his core fitness. I thought his two trials were decent enough… I think we will see him in the back half of the field but I think he will work to the line solidly.”
