The King swings into favourtism

Seldom do you run last in a trial and secure favouritism for a major race.

Yet that’s what the No 1 ranked King Of Swing did this week in his lead-up to the TAB Inter Dominion Championship, which is now just days away.

King Of Swing with his regular ‘pilot’ Luke McCarthy in the bike, trialled at Tabcorp Park Menangle on Wednesday in a leisurely 1:54.7 mile rate and finished fourth to stablemates Expensive Ego, Alta Orlando and Spirit Of St Louis but looked in perfect order for his upcoming major assignment.

Rankings issued a few hours earlier had King Of Swing at the head of affairs, ranked No 1 for the Inter Dominion, ahead of Max Delight, Triple Eight and The Black Prince.

With little more than a week until the series begins, 82 pacers remained in that series and 42 were still looking to contest the Trotters series, to be run in conjunction during the two-week carnival.

Notable movements in the pacers’ rankings included Majestic Cruiser, Mach Da Vinci NZ and Burnham Boy, while key scratchings included Self Assured and Wolf Stride.

The scratching of Tornado Valley from the Trotters series saw Majestic Man move into the top spot, with Pink Galahs and Tough Monarch taking second and third positions.

Funky Monkey, Empire Bay and Just Believe also made significant movements in the final rankings.

Final fields for the first round will be released on Monday afternoon with the first round of heats on Saturday, November 27 before the series heads to Bathurst and Newcastle, with the grand finals to be held on Saturday, December 11 at Menangle.

While Belinda and Luke McCarthy won’t have another of their stable stars, Cash N Flow, competing in the Inter Dominion, the prolific Menangle winner resumes from a spell on Saturday night and could add to his amazing record of 35 wins from 77 starts, the majority of them at Tabcorp Park Menangle.

A 1:52.5 trial winner at the south-western Sydney track earlier this month, Cash N Flow has not raced since August when 10^th to Rocknroll Angel in one of his rare poor runs at the track.

Despite having to contend with gate 10 (into nine after scratching), Cash N Flow has been installed as a $5 favourite for his return to action in Race 5 tonight.

Team McCarthy also has well-performed mare Spirited Belle ($2.75) chasing her first Menangle win when she contests Race 7 over 1609m.

To view the fields for Tabcorp Park Menangle on Saturday night click here.

Here is King Of Swing’s trial at Menangle during the week:

By Michael Court for HRNSW