Knight charges home on Gowran debut

Dermot Weld has high hopes for well-bred victor.

Dermot Weld appears to have a smart prospect on his hands after the well-bred Knight To King made an eyecatching winning debut at Gowran.

By Kingman out of Nightime, a Galileo mare who won the Irish 1,000 Guineas for Weld, the newcomer could not have been any more impressive in the Kings Of Ossory (C&G) Maiden.

Sent into an early advantage by Chris Hayes, once into the final two furlongs, he just pulled further and further clear.

The 10-11 favourite ended up coming home seven and a half lengths clear of the Ger Lyons-trained My King, also owned by Newtown Anner Stud Farm Ltd.

“He’s a really nice colt, he had been working exceptionally well. All the family take a little bit of time and we’re in no hurry with him,” said Weld.

“He’s come forward in the last few weeks. He’s a very good actioned horse, so I didn’t bother with him in the spring on heavy ground. Please God, we’ve lots to look forward to.

“It’s a great family for us and he’s always shown us talent. He was very immature, mentally and physically but he’s coming forward nicely.

“I’ll have a chat with Maurice Regan and we’ll decide where we go with him. I won’t make any decision until I see how he comes home and comes out of the race.

“Obviously we’ll go into stakes level with him now, there are many ideas in my mind.

“He’s very straightforward and I said if there was no pace to make the running on him. The one thing we didn’t want was a messy race with no pace.

“He was out there in front, he has a lot to learn. I think he jumped the road and Chris said he looked at everything. He’ll learn a lot today and he’s a really good colt in the making.

“He quickened up the Old Vic (gallop) the other day like a horse that would be very effective, even, over six furlongs.”

Nightime was a Classic winner for Dermot Weld
Nightime was a Classic winner for Dermot Weld (Kim Houghton/PA)

Four-time Group One winner Ghaiyyath and Man o’ War Stakes winner Zhukova feature among his half-siblings and Weld feels Knight To King compares favourably.

He said: “I think he’s pretty similar to them. They all progress and get better with age, they are all very good. Hopefully he’ll follow in their footsteps.

“He showed so much pace the other morning that I was surprised, in some ways, but he’s bred to get a mile-and-a-half.

“The reason that I came here today with this colt is because it’s beautiful ground here in Gowran.”

Ghaiyyath is a half-brother to Knight To King
Ghaiyyath is a half-brother to Knight To King (Bill Selwyn/PA)

While Knight To King is a son of Kingman, Ghaiyyath is by Dubawi and Weld revealed he has a two-year-old full-brother to the latter horse in training.

He added: “We have a very nice full-brother to Ghaiyyath called Duraji that we like a lot.”

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