New Zealand
Navy King sails to Valley victory
A well-judged front-running ride by Daniel Stackhouse has aided five-year-old gelding Navy King to claim the lion’s share of the prize in the MSC Signs Handicap (2040m) at The Valley on Saturday.
The Symon Wilde-trained son of US Navy Flag was able to take the role of pacemaker from a wide draw without too much pressure and despite laying out slightly in the home straight, had half a length to spare over runner-up Bur Dubai.
Having shown good potential as a three-year-old, Navy King won one race as a four-year-old and has been building towards another win including a last-start fourth placing over the course and distance.
"Daniel said last time that he probably should have got going a bit earlier on him," Bill Wilde said.
"I think the race today was a similar sort of race and we did expect a forward showing. He wasn't beaten far last time.
"It was a great ride by Daniel and congratulations to the team.
"He had a pretty decent blow after his last start so we expected a bit of improvement from him again, even though it's his fourth or fifth run in.
"We're very pleased and it's good to see him back in the winner's circle again. The peripheral races for him around the spring will suit him."
Navy King has now won four races from 20 starts and advanced his career earnings to A$237,400.
A son of The Oaks Stud stallion U S Navy Flag, Navy King was bred by Cambridge Stud owners Brendan and Jo Lindsay.
The dam of Navy King is the O'Reilly mare Eliza Blues, who won two races and was runner-up behind Quintessential in the Gr.1 Queensland Oaks (2400m) in 2012.
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