3 days ago
Trainer Joseph Pride finds the Secret to latest rising star
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Private Eye's little brother King's Secret enhanced his growing reputation as an emerging star in his own right with another super sprinting performance at Royal Randwick on Saturday.
The Joseph Pride-trained galloper continued his remarkable preparation when scoring his fourth victory in six starts in the Petaluma Benchmark 72 Handicap (1100m).
Jockey Andrew Adkins has forged a hugely successful partnership with King's Secret throughout his preparation and produced a peach from an awkward alley to get the gelding home again.
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'Joe and the team keep raising the bar and he keeps saying how high,' Adkins said.
'He is going super this preparation. He has really come to and is maturing.
'I was a bit worried going to the gates, that is the calmest he has ever been, I thought if he'd had enough or not.
'It is just him maturing and switching on and learning to the do the right things and all the basics.
'He's got the hang out if and is winning with style now.'
King's Secret had been beaten two starts ago but has bounced back to his best in a big way with victories at Rosehill Gardens and Randwick at his past two.
'You have to take your hat off to Joe, he knows his horses so well,' Adkins said.
'Two back sort of went amiss, I said I don't know what's going on with him but Joe said we had him too fresh.
'They took him back home and sorted him out. Gave him a bit of work and he came back and won.'
King's Secret had to give weight to his rivals with the topweight of 60.5kg but it did little to stunt his momentum.
He three-wide early but Adkins was able to put himself in the perfect spot, one out and one back.
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King's Secret ($6.50) let down powerfully from the furlong pole, holding off the Bjorn Baker-trained Stardeel ($3.90 favourite) by a half-length with Godolphin's Celerity ($6.50) close up in third.
'He puts his best foot forward and Andrew rode him brilliantly today,' Pride's stable representative Orla Pearl said.
'He knows him so well now.
'Before the race he said, 'we won't be riding the race, we'll be riding the horse' and that's exactly what he's done.
'And the horse, he is just so versatile and he has proved that.'
'It's impressive. To see a mare throw horses like that again and again and to have the family in the stable, it's something special.'
King's Secret is a son of Shalaa out of Confidential Queen, which produced Private Eye.
Private Eye has been a revelation for Pride and Proven Thoroughbreds throughout his career with more than $12 million in prizemoney earned.
The son of Al Maher was placed in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap during the Brisbane winter carnival.
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Just how high King's Secret reaches remains to be seen but Adkins, who had an earlier winner aboard Pensativa, is adamant the future is bright.
'He has carried topweight there against some good gallopers and has done a terrific job so I really don't know (what his ceiling is),' he said.
'It will be interesting to see after a spell how he develops and matures again and how he comes back, then we could probably tell.'
His latest victory seals the BOBS horse the year crown for the stable and owners for consecutive years after In Flight claimed the title by winning the same race.
King's Secret has banked $73,125 in bonuses this season.
Pearl confirmed King's Secret will now be headed for a well-deserved spell with a fantastic record of four wins and three placings from eight starts.
Pride, who was in Melbourne to watch In Flight in the Group 3 Sir John Monash Stakes, enjoyed a quick fire double in Sydney with Aberlour also scoring in the Toyota Forklifts Benchmark 78 Handicap (1800m).
It was Pride's third Saturday metropolitan double in the past four weeks with Estadio Mestalla and Storm The Ramparts both scoring for the stable last weekend.
His in-form galloper Headley Grange will attempt to qualify for the $3 million Big Dance when he contests Sunday's South Grafton Cup at Grafton.
Originally published as Joseph Pride's young sprinter King's Secret continues hot form with impressive win at Randwick
