King Pedro has enjoyed his short break at Milangall Park and is now back into the swing of things at Randwick as he prepares for a big spring ahead.
He’ll work towards a trial at Warwick Farm on September 3, which will set him up nicely for a first-up run in the Group 2 Kingston Town on September 19, with a view to go onto the Group 1 The Metropolitan second-up. From there, he may potentially have a trip down to Melbourne.
John O’ Shea spoke with 7 Horse Racing and discussed his thought process behind nominating King Pedro for the Cox Plate this year.
“We have actually followed the pattern of last year’s Melbourne Cup winner. He did a great job in the Grafton Cup and put up a big performance against the bias to win and in doing so, qualified himself for the Melbourne Cup.
“So the rationale behind the Cox Plate is, if he was to win the Metrop, I wouldn’t want to run him again at a mile and a half going into the Melbourne Cup. So we’d bring him around in the Cox Plate and then turn up the first Tuesday in November.
“He’s always been a two miler in waiting. He’s got a high propensity to sustain a staying trip.”
Co-trainer Tom Charlton also spoke highly of the horse: “There was plenty of merit in his last couple of wins, and at Grafton nothing went right for him and he managed to win after overcoming a really tricky position in running. He is a very progressive horse and we’ve got high hopes for him.”
John O’Shea discussing King Pedro’s spring plans (Video: 7 Horse Racing)