Goulburn preview: The ‘King’ of all online buys to debut on Monday

Former Queenslander King Taurus will make his anticipated NSW debut on Monday for new trainer Danny Williams after being picked up for $1000 online.

Trainer Danny Williams saddles up three strong chances at Goulburn on Monday (Photo by Jeremy Ng/Getty Images)

SPARINGLY-raced gelding King Taurus can turn $1,000 into $15,000 in a little over a minute should he deliver at his first run for his new owner at his new home at Goulburn on Monday.

The Danny Williams-trained son of Bull Point was put up for sale in the wake of his one and only start for original handler Chris Munce, namely an eye-catching fourth at the Sunshine Coast on April 9 last year.

Despite the obvious merit in the run, King Taurus was picked up for the not-so princely sum of $1000 at the Inglis Digital Online Sale in June this year.

“I spoke with Chris Munce and he said they had a fair few issues with him,’’ Williams said.

“He has been a barrier problem and we’ve done a lot of work with him.’’

King Taurus was to have made his NSW debut last Friday on the Snake Gully Cup undercard in the same race that Williams won in 2022 with Raise Hell and again last year with Kreon who made it all the way through to the most recent Kosciuszko.

“It looked a really good race for him but after the scratchings he would have gone into barrier four,’’ Williams said.

“It’s a great atmosphere to be at the races at Gundagai but it’s not good for a horse that has got a bit of an issue so we felt he would be better off on a big roomier track at home with less complications.

‘’He is a really big striding horse (and) a little bit one-dimensional I guess but his trial was very good, we expected that, and that’s how he has been working at home.

“His work is good enough to suggest that he’d be hard to beat but he would appreciate maybe a little bit of sting out the track.’’

That goes double for his new stablemates, My Blue Jeans and Sapphires Son, who are both in action at Goulburn on Monday.

In My Blue Jeans’ case, Monday will be the ghostly-grey’s 41st start at Goulburn and his 124th overall as he strives for win number 11, nine starts following his 10th victory.

The son of Barbados is $26 to win the Emma Murphy Racing Benchmark 58 Handicap (1600m).

“I actually got $51,’’ Williams said. “I had a bet on him because of the expectations of rain.

“He’s had a lot of transitions throughout his career. Initially he was a wet-tracker and then he couldn’t handle the wet at all. Then he punctured the sole of his hoof with a steel nail while he was spelling one day and it nearly took his life.

“He got an infection in the pedal bone and we were lucky to get him through that and these days he doesn’t handle the firm tracks.

“If he gets the conditions to suit, as long as it is not heavy, he’ll run a really good race on Monday.’’

My Blue Jeans may not have that many fans in the punting fraternity but Williams is forever fielding calls from equine fanciers who are eager to secure the ten-year-old $10,000 yearling purchase when time is called on his career.

As for Sapphires Son, he, like the vast majority of Pluck progeny, excels when the opportunity arises to get his toes into the ground.

“ He’s a horse that is a bit of thinker but he has improved since we put the blinkers on him but he definitely needs a wet track,’’ Williams said.

“There’s two of him and he just needs a fair bit to go right but he is capable of running very well.’’

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

GRAFTON Cup winning trainer Sally Taylor is hoping a Bold Hoi Ho win at Armidale on Monday will deliver some consolation for the New Zealand bred’s hard luck story in the most recent renewal of the Kempsey Cup.

The son of 2012 Ajax Stakes winner Niagara was hard in the market to win the Kempsey feature on November 9 but ended-up one short of a podium finish on the day.

“He was probably unlucky,’’ Taylor said.

“I honestly thought he would be in the second or third pair back and he was last on the turn at Kempsey but his last 200m was pretty impressive.

“He was in front of them past the post.

“Danny Peisley’s back on and he’s got a good record at Armidale so I think that is a big thing because horses sometimes don’t handle the uphill straight.

“He is fit and well and he’ll be on an 11-day back-up so I think she should run well.’’

Taylor’s first runner of Monday’s seven-event Armidale card is the very lightly-raced five-year-old mare, Gottaluvher which was set aside after her Grafton debut in the winter where she finished well down the order at big odds.

Her opening gambit this time is the Armidale Jockey Club Maiden Plate (1100m).

“She has definitely improved this preparation,’’ Taylor said.

“I think we will see the best of her when she gets out over 1400m or maybe a mile even later on.

“Monday is obviously a first-up run with her without a trial but I think you will definitely see improvement with her throughout the prep.’’

Gottaluvher is star apprentice Mitch Stapleford’s only ride at Armidale on Monday, a track which ranks as his second most successful in terms of wins.

Horse and jockey will jump from barrier 3.

“She didn’t ever show a lot of speed out of the gates but I will tell Mitch to go forward without hustling and bustling her to be somewhere she can’t be.’’

Gottaluvher’s sire Choistar, who aside from being the spitting image of his own father Choisir, won the 2009 AJC Fernhill Handicap (1600m) by five-lengths.

On top of that, Gottaluvher’s fifth dam is Stage Hit whose quintet of stakes-wins included the Coolmore Classic and the Canterbury Stakes.

Stage Hit, a daughter of Century, turned into a broodmare gem upon retirement leaving the black-type trio, Encores, Irradiate and Sir Laurence.

Originally published as Goulburn preview: The ‘King’ of all online buys to debut on Monday