The winners continue to flow for Chris Waller this time saddling up the quinella with King Gladiator getting the prize over Tropicana Girl in the Exponet Benchmark 80 Handicap (1900m) at Rosehill.
Photo by Racing and Sports
Waller saddled up three runners for the event with Tropicana Girl the most fancied of the trio followed by King Gladiator and Old Bill.
After kicking off his latest campaign in good fashion, King Gladiator's form had tapered off in his latest outings and hence went around at double figure odds.
Dropping in distance King Gladiator was jagged right to the rear of the field by jockey Hugh Bowman.
It was a patient ride by Bowman who didn't get to work on the four-year-old until just before straightening.
Immediately into clear running at the 400m King Gladiator had reeled in the early leaders by the final 100m and then held off stablemate Tropicana Girl to claim the Exponet Benchmark 80 Handicap (1900m).
“Those are the ones you like to watch,” Waller said.
The leading Rosehill trainer was full of praise for the tactics employed by Bowman.
“Full credit to Hugh Bowman, he knows this horse very well and didn't panic at any stage.
“That is the beauty of having horsemen aboard, they make their own decisions and nine times out of ten they come off. It was a good ride.”
Despite being by Galileo, King Gladiatior prior to this afternoon had yet to win beyond a mile with his runs over 2000m and beyond so far in an 11 start career largely underwhelming.
“I think the horse has a problem staying, this is about as far as he needs to go,” Waller said.
“Now that he has won again he has gotten some confidence and we can concentrate on these types of races.”
Despite being defeated by large margins in two of his past three runs, Waller had no plans of sending King Gladiator for a break.
“The easy option is to go to the spelling paddock,” Waller said.
“You don't get any money doing that. Fortunately we've persevered with him and haven't panicked. A good ride certainly helped get the horse back to winning form.”
Waller was also complimentary of Tropicana Girl's efforts in finishing second.
“The winner I think just pocketed her for half a stride,” Waller said.
“When she was making her run so was Hughie [King Gladiator] and just held her up for a bit of momentum and that was probably the difference between winning and running second but there is a win not far away for her.”
Race favourite Winning Glory tired over the final stages and finished close behind the winning pair in third.
Today's success for King Gladiator was his third from 12 starts and has seen his prizemoney earnings surpass $120,000.
