King Of Steel makes towering debut at Nottingham

The gigantic King Of Steel (11-2) made an impression befitting of his huge frame when making a winning debut in pretty taking style at Nottingham today.

The son of Wootton Bassett was slightly uneasy in the market despite a nice pedigree and a $200,000 price tag as a yearling, but there rarely looked to be a moment of bother for David Loughnane’s charge, who travelled ominously into the race under Adam Kirby before quickly asserting for a four and three quarter length success in Division Two of the British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes.

The performance led to King Of Steel being introduced at 66-1 in the betting for next year’s Derby at Epsom Downs and while she wouldn’t be drawn on specific targets, Emily Scott of owners Amo Racing feels that the colt has a bright future. She said: "You can see why we waited because he is enormous.

"We never rushed him at any stage, we just kept feeding him and letting him grow. From the moment I saw him in the parade ring to taking the saddle off, he's done everything like a complete pro and with a big horse you want them to behave - he would be a handful if he didn't.

"He's never been asked too many questions at home, David (Loughnane) said they barely get him off the bridle at home because he is so big and gallops over everything and this was where we would find out how useful he was.

“I was worried he was going to be green off the bridle, but he wasn't, and he lengthened really nicely. He's done it like a real, honest, genuine horse. The further the better and he's a really exciting horse.”

King Of Steel holds an entry in the Group One Vertem Futurity Trophy Stakes at Doncaster in 10 days’ time, but Scott wouldn’t commit to anything at this stage.

She continued: "I think it will be something we will discuss as a team once the dust has settled. You never say never but I think he is a horse for next year whatever happens."

Meanwhile the winning jockey Adam Kirby, who enjoyed Derby success in 2021 aboard Adayar, added: “He's done nothing wrong there - he must be one of the biggest two-year-olds I've ever ridden.

"He travelled round really nicely and lengthened well down the straight. It didn't help that Andrea's horse tried to run out on the turn, I had to ride two races to keep him in it, but hopefully he should be good fun for connections. He could definitely go a bit further in time, he's got the right attitude for the game and is exciting."

It proved to be an insightful afternoon of racing at Nottingham and another to impress on the eight race card was the Martyn and Freddie Meade-trained Ashtanga (2-1 Favourite), who opened her account at the second time of asking in good style in the EBF Maiden Fillies' Stakes over a mile and half a furlong.

The daughter of Nathaniel was a good third behind two colts on debut at Salisbury at the end of last month and built on that in good style here, quickly taking control of matters with a pillar-to-post performance under Andrea Atzeni.

Freddie Meade was in attendance for the performance and he feels that Ashtanga has earned her shot at an Oaks Trial at the beginning of next season on the back of this.

He said: “She’s a really nice filly and she didn’t nothing wrong today, Andrea (Atzeni) was very positive about her. We were unsure about today as she’s still a frame so we were thinking about putting her away, but she bounced out of Salisbury and we just thought we could squeeze a win into her before the winter.

“She’s done that really nicely and I think we’ll look for an Oaks Trial for the beginning of the year. She’s done nothing wrong in her two runs and she’s bred to stay and I think she’ll be better as she gets further. That’ll be her for the year now, Andrea said she’s still very narrow and needs to do very well over the winter and hopefully we’ll have a nice horse for next year.”

The opening race was Division One of the British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes, in which Artistic Star (16-1) made a winning debut for the Ralph Beckett team. Despite his nice pedigree, the son of Galileo wasn’t overly fancied in the market but she showed a good attitude to hold off two rivals after hitting the front at the furlong pole under Rob Hornby.

And the winning owner Jeff Smith's racing manager David Bowe was pleased with the run. He said: "He's got a late birthday, so we've took a bit of time with him, and Ralph has just kept him ticking over and had him spot on for today."

"I think a mile will be the minimum of his trip, a mile and a half will be about right for him in time, but we shall take one race at a time and see what happens.

"I think Ralph has always liked him, it was just a case of waiting on him. He did a nice piece of work last week that Ralph was quite impressed with and I think that was the reason we came here today.

"I'd say that is probably that. We'll talk to Ralph and Ralph will make the decisions, but he's made a winning debut and we may just wrap him up for next year."