Tyro trainer Benji King has enjoyed the reflected glory from unbeaten filly Well Written, but on Saturday he will be out to generate his very own headlines with the star of his small team, Mid Ocean.
King has become well known for selecting Well Written from a Melbourne weanling sale and on-selling her a year later to Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh through Dylan Johnson Bloodstock.
Instead of being disappointed about the one that got away, he has taken a positive attitude by celebrating what Well Written has achieved this season.
More importantly, he’s been making definite progress as he establishes his own training operation from stables leased from the Matamata Racing Club, having prepared six winners from less than 50 starters.
At Saturday’s big local meeting he’ll bid for his first stakes win with Mid Ocean in the Listed Lisa Chittick Champagne Stakes (1400m) for a special client.
Mid Ocean, the winner of two of her seven starts, the most recent of those at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, races in the historic colours of her breeder, Henrietta, the Dowager Duchess of Bedford.
“Through my family I’ve known Henrietta for as long as I can remember and it’s a privilege to now be training for her,” he said.
“She was the first person to give me a go when I decided to go training and for all sorts of reasons it would mean so much to see Mid Ocean run well on Saturday.”
Matamata’s headline race, the Gr.2 J Swap Contractors Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (1200m), was sponsored for several years by the Duchess of Bedford in memory of her late husband Robin, the Duke of Bedford.
Just as significantly, the Duchess is also a good friend of Matamata’s Chittick and O’Sullivan families and was particularly close to the late Lisa Chittick, after whom Saturday’s fillies and mares’ feature is named.
King is realistic about his chances of winning with Mid Ocean, who is closely related to the Bloomsbury Stud-bred Tavistock and descends from the iconic broodmare Mrs Moss.
“She’s definitely got ability and we believe she deserves her chance in a race like this, but as a two-win horse she has a number of more proven horses to beat, and that wide draw (13) won’t help.
“I’m trying to keep the emotion out of it, but I would love nothing more than to win this race for Henrietta, who’s very excited about the weekend.
“On the positive side, Mid Ocean showed what she’s capable of when she beat a strong progressive field on Boxing Day and nothing went her way when she finished third at Ellerslie last month.
“She’s not the sort of horse to star on the training track, but her Tuesday gallop was probably the best I’ve seen her work and the feedback from Sam (Collett) confirmed that.
“We’ll need a race with plenty of speed so that she can hopefully slot in somewhere, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if she was to get amongst it, provided she gets the right run.”
Mid Ocean apart, other members of King’s 10-horse team have been in good form this summer with the promise of more to come. Last-start Ellerslie winner Burnerphone will line up on her home track later this month, and fellow lightly raced winners Predominant and Empressive are back from time out.
King produced a likely sort in Savile Row three-year-old My Gabriel to win a trial first time of asking at Ellerslie on Tuesday, while a recent addition is former Australian galloper Blesstas, the winner of three provincial races.
“She’s by The Autumn Sun and is half-sister to a South Australian Derby winner, so it’s great to be given a chance with a horse that seems to have a fair bit going for it,” King said. – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
