Trainer Grahame Begg, fresh from his Group 1 triumph with Splash Back in last week’s Tatts Tiara, could add another Queensland Winter Carnival winner to his list when he sends out King Zephyr in the Listed Glasshouse Handicap over 1400m at the Sunshine Coast today.
King Zephyr will be coming back 100m in distance … from 1500m in the Listed Spear Chief today’s 1400m trip … a subtle, but not insignificant point of difference which is noted as a positive, given King Zephyer’s record over 1400m with the son of Hallowed Crown having raced over 1400m five times for two wins and three runner-up finishes.
Those results included a second place to Zou Sensation in the Listed Weekend Hussler at Caulfield.
In the Spear Chief, King Zephyr’s last run a month ago, the Begg trained runner never got into contention after jumping from the worst of the draw (eleven out of eleven). He raced towards the rear of the field for most of the running and, while he did make up some ground in the first half of the home straight, he was always too far back to have any major say in the outcome and, arguably, wasn’t hitting the line that hard over the 1500m trip.
His two starts immediately before that were both over 1400m and those results are perhaps more meaningful when looking ahead today’s assignment.
King Zephyr not only finished second in both of those starts … two BM100 races … but he came home less than 0.75 lengths behind the winner in both races, which should have him on the radar as a real contender in the Glasshouse.
There is a downside which could compromise King Zephyr’s chance in the race.
Again, the barrier gods have not been kind to the Begg trained runner. This time he has drawn barrier fourteen … but perhaps the greater concern will be the track rating which currently stands at ‘heavy.’
With a couple of days of sunshine leading into the race that rating is likely to improve, and it would seemingly need to for King Zephyr to have a racing surface on which he can be most effective.
To date, all of King Zephyr six career wins have come on good going. He has yet to win on soft going and has not raced at all on heavy going. There should be no shortage of confidence in the saddle though with Taylor Marshall, who landed his first Group 1 win in the Stradbroke, booked to take the ride. He will be hungry to rubber-stamp his new-found status with another feature race win.
At a current quote of $8, King Zephyr is the joint second favourite for the Glasshouse with Soothsayer. Gerringgong tops the boards on the $5 mark.
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