After being a tragedy beaten at the Sunshine Coast on July 31, the Stuart Kendrick-trained Carribean King was able to bounce back with a stylish win on August 14.
The locally trained four-year-old was sent out as a -285.71 chance with Bovada in the 1000m Class 3 Handicap at the Sunshine Coast, and despite a wide run in transit, he was far too good for his rivals.
Ridden by last season's champion Queensland metropolitan jockey, James Orman, the son of Sweynesse was caught out on a limb from barrier six in the six-horse field, and although he wanted to lay in the whole way up the straight, class prevailed as he won by more than two lengths.
Class 3 Handicap (1000m) race replay | Sunshine Coast | Carribean King (1st)
The consistent gelding has now won three of his 10 starts, while he has been runner-up on four separate occasions, so his trainer believes he deserves another shot at Saturday company.
“He just had no luck the other day – I think half of Australia was on him that day, including every one on the all-ups,” Kendrick told Sky Thoroughbred Central.
“He's a lovely horse. He still did a little bit wrong there. They obviously were all keen to keep him out wide there today and he had to do a little bit of work out there, but he was impressive that last 100m.
“I think when he puts it all together, he's going to be a really nice city-class horse for us, so it was good to get the win on the board and hopefully into town from here now.”
Although all three of Carribean King's victories have been over 1000m, his trainer is confident that he will stretch out over 1200m in time.
Early on, Kendrick thought he could be effective over 1400m and 1600m, but he has found the key to the horse now.
“I don't think the 1200m will be any issue,” he said.
“Early days, we thought he might've even ran a nice 1400m or mile, but I kept him fresh this time because he can sprint like that, and I think 1200m won't be a worry.
“He's just got to mend a couple of those little manners when the pressure goes on him – he's pretty fool-proof for the rest of it – but hopefully he takes a bit of confidence out of that today and hopefully into town after that.”