King Of Light to show Pike was right

PERTH - When William Pike was weighing up who to ride between King Of Light and Watch Me Rock in the A$1.5 million (S$1.28 million) Northerly Stakes (1,800m) on Dec 6, he pointed to the great record of three-year-olds as a reason to partner the former.

The multiple Perth champion jockey’s two wins in what is now Australia’s final Group 1 of the year were aboard three-year-olds, Perfect Reflection (2015) and Arcadia Queen (2018), while Kay Cee (2019) and Amelia’s Jewel (2022) are others of that age group to win in the past decade.

That quartet are all fillies – the only fillies to have won the race – and are among 19 of that age group to have won the weight-for-age contest named after one of Western Australia’s most famous racehorses.

Three-year-old boys dominated the early editions of the race first run in 1976, winning four of the first five and eight of the first 11, but one has to go back to Ihtsahymn in 2013 for the latest male three-year-old to win it.

Ihtsahymn won the Group 2 WA Guineas (1,600m), like King Of Light who did so on Nov 22, and his win came amid a good patch for Guineas winners in the Northerly with Megatic (2007) and Playing God (2010) also triumphing in both races.

Arcadia Queen and Amelia’s Jewel have done the double since, but the only male Guineas winner who has run a place in the Northerly since Ihtsahymn was Zipaway, who ran third in 2023.

However, few Guineas winners have headed in as highly rated as King Of Light, who is unbeaten in five starts. The Danny Morton-trained son of Earthlight earned a Timeform rating of 112 for his Guineas win, which is the equal-highest rating given to a Guineas winner in the past 20 years.

The others to rate 112 were Megatic and Arcadia Queen, who both went on to win the Northerly.

King Of Light’s performance on Nov 22 gave him the rare boast of being a Guineas winner who matched the rating returned by the Railway Stakes winner on the same day with Watch Me Rock also getting 112 for his win in the 1,600m Group 1 handicap.

Morton, who also saddles In Good Order and Pure Excess in the Northerly, has no doubt King Of Light ticks all the right boxes for such a race, even if he will have to step up to another level.

“He’s so laid-back but he gets the job done. He raises the bar come race day,” said the leading Perth trainer to Racing WA.

“We’ve got to make sure he does his work properly, otherwise he gets a bit girly on you.

“But he’s had enough runs under his belt, and he’ll go pretty right on Saturday. He’s an exciting horse, but again, he’s got to raise the bar in a weight-for-age race.

“He’s doing everything right, he’s a deserving favourite but he’ll still have to take another big step.”

Watch Me Rock was Pike’s other Northerly option, but Nash Rawiller has snapped up the ride on the Grant and Alana Williams-trained Awesome Rock five-year-old.

The 11-time winner is striving to become the fourth horse to win the Northerly after taking the Railway and the first since Sniper’s Bullet in 2009.

But while only three have done the double since the Railway was moved before the Northerly in 2001, 10 other Northerly winners came through the Railway.

Joining Watch Me Rock in Saturday’s race out of the Railway are minor placegetters Western Empire and Sentimental Hero, along with Diamond Scene (4th), Osipenko (7th), Admiration Express (8th), In Good Order (9th), Ginger Baker (10th) and Depth Of Character (11th). RACING AND SPORTS