Latest News

By Tony Megahey

Astute Dubbo trainer Connie Greig is relying on Monday’s Quirindi TAB meeting to shed some light on her mystery North Queensland acquisition Rising King.

Connie is as perplexed as anybody else how a six-year-old gelding with the outstanding record of four sprint wins from six starts, has been so sparingly raced, and for three different trainers.

“It’s really strange because it usually means they’re unsound, bad temperament, or other ongoing issues,” Connie offered as Rising King resumes on Monday in a Browning Motors BM 55, 1000m at the popular regional circuit.

“I can’t fault him; he's sound in his work, lovely and relaxed since he came to our stable, and with super form.

"So tell you the truth, I honestly don’t know. The race will obviously tell us more. He hasn’t had a trial and he’s drawn the extreme outside.

“That makes it tough first-up as his last win was 1300m, but he does have 1000 metre form. Anyway, he’ll improve on whatever he does.”

Rising King has carried big weights winning in the far north at Innisfail (1200m) and last start in mid-February, dominant over 1300m in a Townsville Class I with 59kg.

On Monday, Rising King’s 61kg in a capacity field will be reduced by Jean Van Overmeire’s 1.5kg claim.

“I’ve had an association with this horse’s owners over the years. I sent them a nice broodmare and they said they’d send me down a horse one day that would win races down here,” Connie added.

“So hopefully with his form they’ll be right, and his form indicates he handle all surfaces. It’s hard to get a guide on non-TAB meetings up there. “But these days it’s getting harder to win races anywhere and Townsville wouldn’t be any different.”

The portents though from Queenslanders couldn’t be any more positive after League Origin II where another 'King' - Wally Lewis - predicted a Queensland win.

View the final fields with full form & race replays for Quirindi here