King Of Light shines in WA Guineas
Exciting three-year-old King Of Light confirmed himself the latest star of the west as he remained unbeaten with a breathtaking win in Saturday’s WA Guineas at Ascot.
Sent out a raging $1.75 favourite in his fifth start, the Dan Morton-trained gelding had to show all his class to overcome some adversity early in the home straight to earn the victory.
Settling midfield on the fence under a strong tempo for William Pike from gate four of 13, King Of Light looked in danger of not gaining a run after the field turned for home.
But after squeezing through a narrow gap at the 200 metres, he tore after leader Heeza Phoenix (Grunt) and came away to score by 1.14 lengths.
Heeza Phoenix held on for second at $6.50 for Mitchell Pateman, ahead of Daniel and Ben Peace’s Rock Fest (Awesome Rock) at $4.
Bred by WA-based Impressive Racing from the first crop of former Darley shuttler Earthlight (Shamardal), King Of Light was a $120,000 buy at the Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale for Morton, and has become a headline act in Perth.
He didn’t debut until the last month of his two-year-old season, winning in metro class at Pinjarra, and following that up with another city win at Belmont.
Resuming as a three-year-old, he took the Belgravia Stakes (Listed, 1200m) by 0.19 lengths and the Fairetha Stakes (Listed, 1400m) by 0.37 lengths, before relishing the rise to 1600 metres for Saturday’s victory.
Morton was left to marvel at both horse and jockey after a Guineas win that shot King Of Light to the top of betting, at $3, for Ascot’s Northerly Stakes on December 6.
“When he was rolling back towards the fence I thought, ‘Jeez we’re gonna need some luck here,” Morton told Thoroughbred Central regarding those early moments in the home straight.
“But with Pikey on top, you just sort of back the fact that he’s going to find a way and he does.
“And the horse is very good. Obviously he’s got a big motor, but he’s got a laid-back demeanour. He’s a beautiful horse to train. Five from five – not many do it, so there’s a lot of upside.
“He had a torrid time leading into the first-up run, but he is the real deal.”
Three-year-olds have a strong record in the WFA Northerly, winning six of the past 15 editions, and Morton essentially confirmed King Of Light would now head to the $1.5 million feature.
“It’s been in the back of my mind for a long time. Obviously everything’s got to go great … but I think he’d be right amongst it,” Morton said.
Pike conceded he was worried aboard King Of Light on Saturday – both before the race and entering the home straight.
“I was quite concerned before the race. He was quite fired up for him. He’s normally the most casual horse you’d find, but today he was just a little bit agitated,” the winning jockey said.
“[Early in the straight] I was very concerned. All I wanted to do was follow Chris Parnham [on Rock Fest] but he didn’t find when he needed to and that left me in a very sticky situation.
“We had to think thin for a couple of those gaps, but I just love his attitude. He’s like, ‘Yep, can do’.”
King Of Light is the fourth of five named foals for the winning and city-placed mare Queen’s Parade (Dalghar), who’s also had Perth city-winning brothers by Impending (Lonhro) in Changing Guard and King’s Parade.
Queen’s Parade, a half-sister to Newcastle Tibbie Stakes (Gr 3, 1350m) winner Spirit Bird (Savabeel), now has a yearling filly by Blue Point (Shamardal), and a filly foal by Pierata (Pierro).
King Of Light hails from the first of three crops by Earthlight, who last shuttled to Australia in 2023, and is one of the stallion’s two Australian stakes winners from 23 runners, at 8.7 per cent.
A dual Group 1 winner at two, Earthlight has four black type victors worldwide from 148 runners, at 2.7 per cent, and awaits his first elite-level winner. Given he’ll carry only 52 kilograms, many good judges will be betting on King Of Light to provide it in the Northerly.