O’Brien acknowledges Kings leap
Friday 26 October 2012
Joseph O'Brien admits Kingsbarns faces a massive leap in class in Saturday's Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster.
The young pilot was on board when the son of Galileo made a striking debut at Navan just over two weeks ago, winning by seven lengths. His father Aidan had five other possibles for the race but relies solely on Kingsbarns, who was supplemented at a cost of £17,500 on Monday.
Many are drawing comparisons between Kingsbarns and three-time Classic scorer Camelot, winner of the Group One contest last year on the back of just one run. Camelot made his debut in July, though, and O'Brien jnr is well aware Kingsbarns will be making a swift return.
"He was quite green on his debut at Navan but he still won very easily in the end. This is a massive step up from a maiden at Navan to a Group One. If he was just to run a very nice race we'd be pleased," he said.
"It usually takes a nice horse to win this race. He's coming back quite quick from just having his first run, so if he was to run well we'd be happy."
According to Timeform, Kingsbarns has nine lengths to make up with Steeler in terms of proven ability on the racecourse.
"Steeler and Trading Leather, who are both battle-hardened and Group winners at the trip, set a high standard, plus the pair are likely to improve further, and so Kingsbarns looks to have a mountain to climb, certainly more so than the odds would suggest,” the organisation's Jamie Lynch said.
"After Camelot’s victory in last year’s Racing Post Trophy, plenty of punters will be prepared to believe hype over form once more."
Comments
Please sign in to post a comment.