While Chris Waller will saddle up the three favourites in the Group 1 $1m George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill on Saturday, he is more than happy with the progress of his forgotten horse My Kingdom Of Fife as he lines up for his second Autumn Carnival start.
My Kingdom Of Fife is the forgotten horse of Chris Waller's four runners in the George Ryder Stakes. Photo by Steve Hart.
Group 1 winning mare Red Tracer ($3 favourite), last start Group 1 winner Boban ($6) and last year’s Doncaster Mile winner Sacred Falls ($7) are the first three in the Ladbrokes.com.au market order for Saturday’s weight for age contest while My Kingdom Of Fife is one of the longshots of the field at $41.
My Kingdom Of Fife was having his first run back after two and half years on the sidelines because of a tendon injury when tenth of ten behind Appearance in the Group 1 $500,000 Guinness Canterbury Stakes (1300m) at Randwick on March 15 and Waller was more than pleased with the effort.
“I’m excited about him, I’m not saying he can win bit it is just great to have him back,” Waller told the Sportsman.
“His tendons look good and he is a good horse.”
“I couldn’t expect him to win second-up after two and a half years off.”
“But I could see him running on in the field and if he does you’ll see a big smile on my face.”
“He is probably one run away from his best, so it would be nice to see him finish mid-field and that would suggest that he is well on target to winning another nice race in the not too distance future.”
My Kingdom Of Fife won the 2011 Group 1 $500,000 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) and Waller has nominated the nine year old again for this year’s version of the $4m weight for age contest at Randwick on April 19 as well as the Group 1 $3m The Star Doncaster Mile (1600m) at Randwick the week before.
Waller was able to win with My Kingdom Of Fife at his first run in Australia in April of 2011 at the grand old odds of $151 in winning the Group 3 $125,000 Emirates Doncaster Mile Prelude (1600m) at Randwick prior to winning the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
My Kingdom Of Fife then went on to win the Group 2 $300,000 Gold Coast Turf Club A D Hollindale Stakes (1800m) at the Gold Coast before running second to Scenic Shot in the Group 1 $500,000 Doomben Cup (2000m) at Doomben.
Leading Sydney jockey Nash Rawiller rides My Kingdom Of Fife on Saturday and takes over from Glyn Schofield who will up team up again with Boban to try to maintain his perfect record on the four year old.
Schofield and Boban went through the Spring undefeated from five starts then after Boban failed to fire at his two runs this campaign with Rawiller aboard, Schofield hopped back on to win the Group 1 $500,000 Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Warwick Farm on March 8.
