Joe Pride does not expect King’s Secret to reach the extraordinary heights of his half-brother Private Eye, but he is confident the gelding’s breakthrough stakes win is only the beginning.
The Warwick Farm trainer believes Thursday’s Listed Canterbury Sprint victory has confirmed the four-year-old belongs at black-type level.
The lightly raced son of Shalaa claimed his first stakes success by outstaying The Instructor in the $200,000 sprint, taking his record to six wins from 11 starts.
That result lifted his prizemoney to $573,575, well short of Private Eye’s $12 million-plus haul, but Pride feels there is plenty of improvement ahead.
“He’s done a lot in these early stages of his career, but there’s a lot more to come,” Pride said.
“In 12 months’ time, who knows? He might go to the same level (of races) that his brother’s reached, not that I’m saying he’s going to be as good as him.”
King’s Secret will now head for a short break before a potential autumn campaign targeting races such as the Maurice McCarten Stakes, Star Kingdom Stakes and Hall Mark Stakes.
Settling close to the speed as the $3.80 second favourite, King’s Secret looked under pressure at the 400m but responded strongly, surging past inside the final 200m to score by a neck, with Barber third.
Andrew Adkins, who has partnered the gelding in most of his wins, praised his resolve.
“He’s just a deadset winner, he tries so hard, he puts all his effort in and he executes really well,” Adkins said.
“That’s not really how I wanted to ride him today, up that close, but with the light weight and the favourite – I didn’t want to give it too much start around here – I needed him to be tough and that he was.”