Queen Of Kings wins Ashburton thriller

[Wandering Eyes]

The big step up from Rating 65 to open company proved to be no obstacle on Friday for Queen Of Kings, who snatched a thrilling photo-finish victory in the Ashburton Raceway Your Gateway to Entertainment 1600.

The five-year-old mare went into Friday’s race with only one previous win to her name in her 34-start career, but she had run strong-finishing placings in three of her four previous starts to give trainers Leonard and Lacy Stewart the confidence to raise the bar at Ashburton.

Ridden by Gosen Jogoo, Queen Of Kings settled well back as Amiinit led the field up to the home turn. Queen Of Kings had only a couple of rivals behind her as she straightened for home, but Jogoo angled her into clear air down the outside of the track to launch her run.

Queen Of Kings moved through her gears and ran on strongly out wide, joining up with Sacred Dream, Iffididit, Quintabelle and Harlech in a five-way battle to the finish. Less than a length separated that quintet at the line, with a last-minute lunge by Queen Of Kings carrying her to a nose victory over Sacred Dream.

Iffididit was a half-head behind the first pair in third, with half a length back to Quintabelle in fourth and another nose to the fifth-placed Harlech.

“That was a good win today,” Leonard Stewart said. “The horse has been racing consistently and running good races despite not quite winning. It was a step up in class today, but she handled it well. I’m really happy for ‘Gos’ too, who’s been a bit crook lately but gave the horse a great ride today.

“We’ll just see how the horse comes through this before deciding what we do next. I thought a Good4 track might be a bit too firm for her today, but that ground had a bit of give in it and she handled it well.”

Queen Of Kings began her career in the Cambridge stable of Tony Pike, for whom she recorded two third placings from five starts and banked just over $5000.

Bought for $15,001 in a Gavelhouse.com auction in February 2024 and now raced by Ryan de Joux, Queen Of Kings has now had a total of 35 starts for two wins, 12 placings and $66,785 in stakes.

View the full article