Steady Ready takes out the rich King Of The Mountain at his third attempt at the race
Jockey Cody Collis has won the King Of The Mountain slot race in a sliding-doors moment for the talented apprentice jockey.
Horse Racing
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News.
In a magical sliding-doors moment, apprentice jockey Cody Collis has steered brilliant sprinter Steady Ready to a thrilling victory in the $750,000 King Of The Mountain slot race on a wet and wild day at Toowoomba.
The Tony and Maddy Sears-trained gelding edged out the fast-finishing Russian Alliance and Millane to collect the $350,000 winner’s cheque on a bottomless track at Clifford Park.
It was the second King Of The Mountain (KOTM) triumph for the father-and-daughter training combination after they won with Yellow Brick in the inaugural edition of the slot race on New Year’s Eve in 2022.
READ: Yulong secures half-share of Private Harry, locked in for The Everest
Collis, who arrived back in Australia on Sunday after a short holiday to Bali, only picked up the ride after jockey Zac Lloyd copped a suspension for careless riding in the Group 2 Ajax Stakes at Rosehill on March 15.
It was a case of one better each time for Steady Ready as he finished third in the inaugural KOTM, runner-up to Rothfire on New Year’s Day last year and first on Friday in a race shifted to align with Toowoomba’s Show Day.
It was also a quinella for Toowoomba trainers, with former taxi driver Kevin Kemp’s $19 roughie Russian Alliance going agonisingly close to pulling off a spectacular upset but still secured $135,000 for connections.
The Rex Lipp-trained Cifrado, despite a betting plunge on the $3.30 favourite, finished last out of the 11 runners in the non-claiming race over 1200m.
“He won easily, I wasn’t even worried,” Tony Sears said with a laugh.
“He’s always been a good horse and he deserves to win one like that.
“I don’t know whether he’ll be in it for a fourth year but he’d be the only horse that’s raced in the King Of The Mountain for three years in a row.”
The son of Better Than Ready was racing in a slot for Singapore-based Jayven See, who owns the five-year-old gelding.
With fog blanketing the Heavy 9 track on several occasions during the day, Toowoomba officials were praying that the rich slot race would go ahead.
But thankfully, all races went ahead as scheduled, although the program was brought forward slightly to help ease concerns about visibility as rain bucketed southeast Queensland.
READ: Tips from the big bookies: Australian Cup and Tancred Stakes Day
“We’re happy to get through our program and the best horses were winning,” Toowoomba Turf Club boss Grant Sheather said on Friday night.
“All kudos to Steady Ready because with the race being opened up this year (to horses trained outside of Queensland) there was a top field of sprinters running today.
“There was certainly a lot more depth this year and I think that’s the appeal of opening the race up to horses Australia-wide. It’s added a bit more credit to the victory today.”
Meanwhile, trainer Mark Currie had a brace of wins, including Casino Bay in the $125,000 Pat O’Shea 2YO (1200m) while the Corey and Kylie Geran-trained gelding Our Magnus was just as dominant under Cejay Graham in the King Of The Mountain Consolation (1200m).
Originally published as Steady Ready takes out the rich King Of The Mountain at his third attempt at the race
‘I was sceptical … but we started seeing marked improvement’: Alligator Blood’s ‘magic potion’
Seven-time Group 1 winning superstar Alligator Blood’s part-owner says the iconic horse may not be approaching a miracle return to racing without a ‘magic potion’ from the Cook Islands.
Qld Racing Minister’s promise: No secrets, I will release report
Queensland Racing Minister Tim Mander has spoken to senior racing writer Ben Dorries on a range of issues including the wide-ranging review into the three codes of racing in the Sunshine State.