King Eternal back to best racing weight says Taylor

By Wayne Heming

A weight-loss program designed by trainer Darren Taylor could pay handsome dividends for outsider King Eternal in the heats of the Rockhampton Wildcard series on Wednesday night.

A heavyweight dog who races best at around 37kgs, King Eternal’s weight snuck away from Taylor recently, forcing him to re-think and make a few minor adjustments.

“He’s a pretty big dog. He got away from us a bit, but we managed to get his weight back down to 38kgs," Taylor said. 

“As they say: ‘weight stops a train’."

Taylor, who trains near Rockhampton, has two starters, King Eternal (box seven) in the third heat and the more fancied, Out The Bottle (box eight), in the second heat.

“They are a couple of strong dogs,” Taylor said. 

“If they get a clear passage in their races, they’ll be running over the top of their rivals, that’s for sure. I don’t mind Out The Bottle drawn out in box eight, it’s where he likes to be.

“He’s just got to begin like he did last week in the Anniversary Cup and they’ll know he is there again.”

Taylor was referring to Out The Bottle’s giant-killing win over Showtime Isaac and his kennel-mate King Eternal, ending the run of victories by Steve Scott's boom young dog Oorah (fourth), who had won his previous three starts in style.

While Out The Bottle is the more fancied of Taylor’s pair, he was rapt in King Eternal’s flashing third last week, finishing just ahead of the odds-on favourite Oorah.

“He came from last and was blocked for a run,” Taylor said. 

“Oorah was ahead of him and he took ground off him in the straight. When I heard him called third, I thought to myself: ‘Where the hell did he come from’. It was a terrific run.

“He is no slouch. He’s won at the Meadows and Albion Park for us.”

The trainer had intended to step Out The Bottle up to 700 metres until he suffered a shoulder injury, which forced him to back off and freshen him up, bringing him back to racing in the Anniversary Cup.

“I think his shoulder was troubling him, but now we are on top of it he is jumping again,” Taylor said.

The Sarina-based Scott, whose kennels continue to grow and produce more winners, has 10 runners in the four Wildcard heats.

He has strong chances with End Of Story (box one) and Farmor Fired Up (box four) in heat one, Sneaky Pete (box one), Oorah (box four) in heat two and Custard’s Son (box five) and Imprisonment (box seven) in heats three and four.

Recently crowned Rockhampton trainer of the year, Juanita Thompson, has four runners engaged with her best chance appearing to be the highly consistent Claretown Sadie (box one) in the third heat.

Claretown Sadie has drawn the inside box and has the second fastest time over the 510 metres in her heat.

Thompson has a soft spot for another of her Wildcard runners, City Way (box four) in the final heat.

“He’s been a great performer and we’d love to see him in the Rocky Cup or the Consolation series,” Thompson said.

City Way has won 15 starts and $69,000 in prizemoney, but comes up against the 'King of Rocky' in the Dallas Beckett-trained Play Dirty.

Play Dirty has the pink rug, which he has worn five times for four wins.