King Pedro highly fancied in Grafton Cup
Progressive stayer King Pedro contests Thursday’s Listed A$200,000 Grafton Cup (2350m) for trainer Tom Charlton, who believes the New Zealand-bred four-year-old can now elevate to a new level after getting the monkey off his back with a last-start victory in the Stayers Cup (2400m) at Rosehill.
The son of Eminent was plagued by bad luck and traffic trouble on his way to finishing seventh over 1600m at Randwick on April 25, second over 2100m at Gosford on May 9 and a desperately unlucky second by a nose in a 2000m race at Rosehill on June 17.
“He's had an excellent campaign,” Charlton said. “He was a bit unfortunate in a couple of his runs prior to the Stayers Cup, but he got the job done in impressive style last time.
“He is versatile in terms of trip.
“He might stay further than a mile and a half, which is excellent, but I think the Grafton Cup will be a good trip for him.”
“There's a chance of a bit of rain on Thursday, which I don't think would harm him. He's got that sort of lightly raced progressive profile, which should see him fit in well.”
Kerrin McEvoy is booked to ride the former Kiwi stayer, who has been installed a $2 favourite for Thursday’s feature.
Beyond the Grafton assignment, Charlton believes the gelding can bounce into black-type staying assignments through spring.
“I think there's no reason why we can't think about those types of races,” he said.
“I definitely think he's going to be a horse that is effective in stakes races over these trips going forward.”
Originally named Don Pedro, the King Pedro began his career in the Opaki stable of Peter Jeffcoat, who bought him for just $3,900 on Gavelhouse.com in October of 2022.
From six starts for Jeffcoat, King Pedro recorded a win, two seconds, a third and a fourth.
In his final New Zealand start before being sold to syndicators OTI Racing, King Pedro finished sixth behind Willydoit last year’s Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m).
With three wins and seven placings from 15 career starts, King Pedro will be looking to build on his A$255,159 in prizemoney to date.
