Glenn Moore “is still pinching himself” about his last couple of months with King Of Swing as he has come from a battler in Perth to the winner of the Miracle Mile.
It has been an incredible revival of a career that was floundering before King Of Swing moved to Sydney. The West Australian owner was moved to tears after King Of Swing made it three straight group 1 victories and became the seventh horse to complete the Hunter Cup-Miracle Mile double.
“We always knew King Of Swing had great ability, but he just wasn’t putting in at home,” Moore said. “We saw what Craig Cross and Luke McCarthy did with Bling It On, so we thought they would be able to turn him around, but you don’t think of this. It is amazing. It is a dream. To win one of those group 1 races would be a dream, but he has won three. We are looking forward to the future.”
Premier Perth trainer Gary Hall snr suggested the move and King Of Swing is now delivering on what he had promised, winning the Breeders Crown as a two-year-old and WA Derby as a three-year-old.
The five-year-old dominated the Miracle Mile, even though he was crossed by Majordan off the gate. As they raced through the first quarter in 25.9 seconds, driver Luke McCarthy made his move to retake the front and control. King Of Swing went 28.8s in the second quarter and then when the moves came from back in the field from Lochinvar Art, McCarthy set light the five-year-old with a 26.3s third section and then was too strong in the run to the line as he ran a 1.48 mile.
“We didn’t think we had a horse for a race like this three months ago,” McCarthy said. “Craig got the call about King Of Swing and we thought he would be a good pick-up. We thought he might be able to get to a Miracle Mile if we were lucky. He has just got to another level.”
King Of Swing ran a 53.3 final half-mile to win by 2 metres from Lochinvar Art with the Cross stablemate Alta Orlando a head back in third. It got the 15-year monkey off McCarthy’s back in the Miracle Mile.
“It is a huge thrill to final drive a Miracle Mile winner, I have been trying for a long time,” McCarthy said.
Written by Chris Roots, Sydney Morning Herald
