Coming in soon

KW is doing very well at pre-training at Cobbitty Lodge. Geoff visited recently and says that he seems to have thickened through the chest and hindquarters. His quiet and amenable nature makes him a favourite in the yard but once the saddle is on he definitely becomes a racehorse and when working with another horse wants to get to the front. However, as reported by both Corey Brown and Fiona Mylan, he has a tendency to want to stop for a chat rather than push past the leader so Mary, the new Manager of Racehorses at CL, is working on strategies to encourage him to run on. Gerald says that as soon as a place is available (ie a horse currently racing at Ascot Lodge goes for a spell) he will come in to commence full training for his next preparation.

Back at work soon

KW will return to pre-training soon after 7 weeks or so spelling at Caramar Park.
His residual cardio-vascular fitness from last preparation where he perfornmed creditably at City/Sat level will hopefully see him come to hand relatively quickly and all owners are looking forward to seeing him racing- and winning- again soon.
Highlight of last prep was undoubtably his fine 5th over 1800m in fast time at Rosehill on 11th sept. Those to finish less than 3.5 lengths in front of him that day were-

• Gigino (two city wins since)
• Stratofortress (won $185,000 Newcastle Gold Cup next start)
• Maluckyday (two city wins in Sydney plus won Lexus Stakes and 2nd Melbourne Cup since)
• Mr. Edison (two city wins since)

Setting our sights a little lower and over slightly shorter distances should result in a return to the winners list for our gallant steed.

Another Great Effort and a Well-earned Spell

KW's last start this prep was a great sixth over 2000m at Rosehill. Again coming from well back at the turn he kept coming all the way down the straight, running good sectionals all the way to the line, to get within 2.7 lengths of the winner who fluked the short way home along the rails while KW covered several lengths further down the outside.
Next preparation we'll keep him to slightly easier 1400-1600m races so that his natural finishing sprint can power him home, hopefully to several long overdue wins.

Rosehill again- Second Time Lucky?

KW will start again at Rosehill tomorrow over 2000m in a BM80 race. Again he is the lowest rated horse but we are expecting a bold showing nevertheless. Amongst his opposition will be Portos and Mr. Edison who have both finished in front of him in the last few weeks but 'Our Boy' is a fighter and with an easier run in transit than last week when caught three wide, we think he can turn the tables. If he has gas left in the tank at the 400 he can outsprint them in the run home.

Racing in Top Company

'Keep yourself in the best of company and your horses in the worst' is the old saying and we got the first part right on Sat 11th sept 2010 when a large contingent of owners saw KW (BM rating 65) finish a creditable fifth after being caught three wide the whole way in a BM80 race over 1800m at his home track of Rosehill. He only snuck into the hot field after scratchings and, starting at 50 to 1, 'Our Boy' again raced well above his rating against far better performed horses .
All owners were ecstatic at the performance and agreed that a win is close.

He's a Stayer

As the video shows, having left the opposition in their wake, Khamsin Warrior and Portos put on a Bonecrusher/Our Waverly Star style performance to fight out the finish of the 1800m NSWROA BM 70 Hcp on a heavy Randwick (Kensington) track.

Unfortunately for KW's owners and backers, depite being universally called the winner, the photo showed Portos had prevailed by the narrowest of margins.

Given that KW missed the start by at least a length and carried 1.5 kg more than the winner, the run was an indication that good wins are just around the corner for our new middle distance horse.

As this preparation progresses he seems to be absorbing all the work Gerald can give him and finding continual improvement as a result. There is no evidence of him lightening off, so Gerald says several more runs this time in are likely and he is confident of KW being on the other side of the judge's verdict very soon.

Next start is likely to be in a BM75 race over the same distance on the same track on Wed 18th Aug. Since his BM rating has only risen to 66 after last Wed, he will carry only 53.5kg on Wed week and must be a big chance. If the fine weather continues and the track dries out somewhat, he will get a chance to show his acceleration as well as his new-found staying ability. Watch him go then.

Canterbury 28.7.10

KW's first attempt at a middle distance was very encouraging. He jumped well and, as per instructions, top jockey Corey Brown had him third on the fence on settling. He had no trouble keeping with them until the final 200m when he tired a bit. If you look closely he blundered and picked himself up at the 200m pole. Corey said he was lucky not to have fallen.

An analysis of his sectionals shows that his 600-400 and 400-200 sectionals were the best of any runner but he slowed up in the last 200m. This was probably a combination of feeling the pinch, possibly not being so willing to stretch out after nearly falling and the fact that Corey eased him down near the post when any improvement on third was not possible.

Corey was very pleased with the run and said it was nearly impossible to have gained ground in the straight in the heavy conditions. The track was downgraded to a Heavy 10 just before the race and the meeting was abandoned after the race so all in all it was another game effort from Mr. Big on an otherwise miserable Sydney winter's day.

It was great to see such a large contingent of owners there, including Frank from Townsville, who was passing through Sydney and really appreciated the effort KW put in.

KW at Cobbity Lodge

Finally got the pics out of my iphone re last Sunday's visit to Cobbity Lodge. KW had been there a week and is pleasing Racehorse Manager Fiona Mylan no end.

To my eye (and Carolyn's) he has filled out appreciably, especially behind. He has a far more balanced look to him now.