McCarthy expecting improvement for King Of Swing

By Adam Hamilton 

Luke McCarthy was a tad frustrated, but certainly not worried when King Of Swing had a “close call” in his first-up win at Menangle last Saturday night.

The dual Miracle Mile winner worked to the front in the 2300m free-for-all, cruised through a 59.1sec middle half then zipped away with a big lead at the top of the straight.

But the much-improved Bundoran and his own stablemate, Star Galleria, charged late to give King Of Swing’s a scare and cut his winning margin to just 1.5m in a 1min54.2sec mile rate.

“He’s done that before early in a campaign, sort of switch-off or only do what he has to do. It’s like he looks after himself,” McCarthy said.

"He started to lift again when they got to his wheel, that’s what he does.

“I know him well enough, it’s one of his quirks, nothing to worry about.

“And he’ll definitely benefit from the run. He’s done a lot of work and had the trial, but he was first-up for three months and he’ll take a lot of out it.”

McCarthy said he would discuss with King Of Swing’s owners the pathway towards his next major targets at Albion Park, the $100,000 Group 1 Sunshine Sprint (July 17) and the $250,000 Group 1 Blacks A Fake a week later.

Star stablemate Expensive Ego, who won the Chariots Of Fire and ran second to King Of Swing in the Miracle Mile on March 6, will return from a freshen-up at Albion Park on Saturday night.

He’s been freshened-up since winning the Group 1 Australian Gold 4YO final at Melton on May 1.

“He went to Menangle a week or so back for a private trial and felt fantastic. We couldn’t be happier with him,” McCarthy said.

“It makes sense to race him up there because he can run in a restricted class race rather than the free-for-all this week.

“He’ll probably only need this run before The Rising Sun (July 10). He hasn’t had long out.”

Exciting former Kiwi pacer Spirit Of St Louis will also step-out at Albion Park this week.

“We took him to Goulburn to have his first run for us, where I was really like a trial and I kept him eligible for an M0 (metro maiden) race a Albion Park, so that’s what he’ll run in this week,” McCarthy said.

“There’s a bit of buzz about and we really like him. We’ll be keen to cut him loose a bit this week to run some time and impress the selectors for a spot in The Rising Sun.”

In other stable news, classy veteran Alta Orlando will be on trial for a Queensland raid when he returns in a free-for-all at Menangle next Saturday night.

“We think he’s still up to the good races, especially with the right draws, so if he goes well this week, he’ll head north as well for the Sunshine Sprint and Blacks A Fake,” McCarthy said.