King Of England should be saluting for his new stable in Race 6 at Geelong on Wednesday.
The gelding contests the Jim’s Mowing Benchmark 78 Handicap (1700m) following a stable debut over the mile at Sandown where he settled back and rattled home into second.
He has since been kept ticking over with a Cranbourne trial win which turned the heads of those in attendance.
All signs indicate the former Greg Bennett-trained gelding has settled in beautifully to Melbourne way of life under Robert Smerdon.
The Galileo five-year-old appears well placed and should be saluting second up at Geelong on Wednesday.
King Of England’s first up effort returned a Timeform rating of 91.
It sees the gelding sitting well clear of his rivals on weight adjusted ratings and there is obvious potential for him to improve substantially on this figure rising in trip with added fitness second up.
The Robert Smerdon-trained runner is expected to settle worse than midfield and be charging over the top of his rivals late.
Rich River and Mr Journeyman have each been scratched from the event with both gallopers considered main dangers to King Of England.
Digitalism showed good improvement on his first up outing when a closing third over a mile in the Tatura Cup.
He will be fitter again and can improve further based on best form figures returned last campaign.
Aurum Spirit has been fair of late and last start was closing well at Flemington over 2000m.
While facing a strong rival in King Of England, he does drop in both class and distance on that latest outing at Flemington and as a whole appears well suited here.
That being said, both Aurum Spirit, Digitalism and King Of England’s remaining rivals would need to find substantial improvement if they were to genuinely challenge the well bred import in Wednesday’s Jum’s Mowing Geelong Benchmark 78 Handicap (1700m).
