King Of Swing’s Western Australia Derby campaign is back on track after a top hit out at Pinjarra on Sunday. The high-priced Kiwi import has bounced back strongly after an untimely cold threatened to delay his Western Australian harness racing debut.
Trainer Gary Hall Sr thought it was unlikely King Of Swing would get up in time for next month’s Group 1 WA Derby (2536m).
A spell in the paddock seemed certain with Hall racing against the clock to get enough work into his talented new acquisition.
But after an impressive 16m trial win over Angel Of Harlem in 1.55.6sec., Hall declared it’s full steam ahead to the WA Derby.
“I was pretty excited because I didn’t expect to see him go that well,” Hall told Tabradio’s The Sports Daily.
“I was very worried about him because he had that cold and I didn’t know how much work I could get into him before the Derby.
“I went to the trial yesterday in the hope that he would go good, rather than knowing he would.
“He did work well on the Wednesday, but he exceeded my expectations, he went super and showed he was a real race horse.
“All reports are that he doesn’t need a lot of work to get to his top, but I treat all my horses the same, they get plenty of work, that’s what I do.
“If he got much improvement from that I think it would be very worrying for the opposition, that’s for sure because he went fantastic.
“He wouldn’t need to improve much from the trial.”
King Of Swing will make his official debut for the Hall camp at Gloucester Park’s Easter Thursday meeting.
The WA Derby will be run at Gloucester Park on April 6.
Western Australian