A rails-hugging run without going around any horse saw King’s Speech (NZ) (Darci Brahma) post a hard-fought victory at his first test over 1800m on Sunday.

Surprisingly friendless in the market at $82 despite his closing third at his first attempt at Class 3 level three weeks ago, the Darci Brahma four-year-old also cut a lonely figure along the fence as the rest of the field went wide around the home turn in Sunday’s $70,000 Class 3 race over 1800m.

After being used up early to find the lead and tow the rest for most of the race, Karisto (Written Tycoon) was hanging on for dear life as the swoopers descended thick and fast. Given his early exertions, Karisto did a sterling job to hold the fort for as long as he could, but King’s Speech, in contrast, had benefitted from an economical run while taking the shortest way home.

The St George stable-owned gelding snuck along the rail and stuck to the task manfully as the winning post arrived in time as they scraped home by a nose from Gold Strike (Iffraaj).

 Jockey Simon Kok said King’s Speech was certainly in a winning frame of mind as he scraped paint on Sunday. “He’s a special horse. I rode him at his previous two runs,” said the Malaysian apprentice jockey.

“Today, he jumped ordinary. He hangs in, it’s not easy to get him out.

“I had to ride him for luck. I was happy with what i had underneath and he seemed happy to be there. “He’s got the potential to go further.”

-NZ Racing Desk