By MIKE DILLON
If Paul Jenkins is right, King Keitel is the one to beat in next week's $150,000 Avondale Cup.
Jenkins swears there is lengths improvement in the country's most rapidly emerging stayer.
And he said that after King Keitel won Saturday's $100,000 Eagle Technology Counties Cup, not before as an excuse for the horse if he was beaten.
If King Keitel was 95 per cent fit on Saturday it says a lot for his courage to outlast a desperate final struggle with Bluebird The Word.
With three strides left Bluebird The Word still looked the winner, but King Keitel came back at him.
Greg Childs almost couldn't believe he'd been beaten on Bluebird The Word.
"He was going home to win it, I got clearly in front of the other horse.
"The winner did well to come back at us."
Bluebird The Word knuckled over so badly as the barriers were released his nose hit the track, but Childs was not blaming that for the defeat.
"He got a pretty good run later."
Jenkins has done an admirable job of taking his time developing King Keitel into a group winner.
Behind the microphone at the presentation he thanked his fellow owners, business tycoon Eric Watson and Mahdi Wootten for their patience.
Jenkins is reasonably circumspect, leaving the smiling to rider Leith Innes, who has enjoyed a huge week after a pretty tough month.
One of Innes' worst moments was crashing to the track aboard class mare Ad Alta and watching her die during the preliminaries at Flemington.
He went back to Australia to ride Matamata mare Platonic in a trio of rich mares races and copped a caning from the Australia media.
Redemption arrived when Innes rode an exemplorary race on Platonic to win the $A100,000 Summoned Stakes at Sandown in Melbourne last weekend. And he'd done nothing wrong on Platonic when second to fellow Kiwi Sequel at Flemington on Derby Day.
The only tough moment for Innes came when he heard the protest siren.
King Keitel had turned into the home straight close to the inside running rail and finished two thirds of the way to the outside rail, dictating the line of Bluebird The Word, although Greg Childs claimed that made no difference to the result.
Innes sighed when he discovered the protest did not involve the winner, it was the connections of sixth-placed Kaapeon protesting against fourth-placed Oregon Power.
Racing: King Keitel showing colours as talented stayer
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.