King turns up trumps

King Of Trumps looks to have a bright future – he won well on debut at the Northern Southland meeting at Ascot Park today.

He was taken straight to the front by driver Brad Williamson and while some of the more favoured runners struck trouble, the talented American Ideal gelding stayed on nicely to beat Tommy Waterhouse by two and a half lengths with Speights On Tap running third.

King Of Trumps was bred locally by Russell Morton and is out of the McArdle mare Queen Of The Crop. The three year old gelding is closely related to the handy New York Town. He’s owned by Black along with stable helpers Craig Milne and Paul McEntyre, and the partnership payed $17,000 for him as a yearling.

“I had New York Town a few years ago and he did a good job. Craig (Milne) and I spotted him (King Of Trumps) at the sales. I was saying stop (bidding) and Craig carried on. It’s good for Russell. He’s got a full brother to him at the sales. The win today by this horse should help the price a bit,” Black said.

King Of Trumps had a couple of workouts as a two year old but was immature and was turned out.

“I’ve always like him. He’s always had speed and he’s tough too, and he showed that today. He’s still a bit green but he’ll come to it. He’ll have a few days off now and we’ve got a bit of time before the Supremacy if he’s not sold.”

Black’s two stable stars Vintage Cheddar and Get Lucky are down to start again at Winton next week.

“Really happy with them. The Central Otago Cup will be for Vintage Cheddar and there’s a nice trotting race for Get Lucky.”

Bruce Stewart