Graham’s trump card will be rested after Molly Campbell success

By Pat McLeod

While the King Of Aces bandwagon is quickly filling up, trainer Col Graham will take his foot off the accelerator.

“I won't be knocking him around. I won't run the legs off him, he is too good for that,” the veteran NSW trainer said.

Graham made those comments after his ‘special’ youngster had taken out the honours in the age-restricted Molly Campbell Silver Dollars Final over 520 metres at Albion Park on Thursday night.

After an imperfect start, the Hooked On Scotch - Distant Star chaser again displayed his awesome talent, quickly finding the front to cruise away to a six-and-a-half-length win over Bantam Magic (trained by Jamie Hosking) with Carton Of Bear (Brent Kline ) third.

However, victory in the historic feature, King Of Aces’ fourth straight win at 'The Creek', does not mean Graham will fast-track his kennel star’s big race debut.

Asked if there was any consideration of a tilt at the Million Dollar Chase heats, Graham quickly put paid to that.

“I'm not worried about races like the Million Dollar Chase. Maybe next year,” Graham said.

“I'm going towards the Ipswich Derby (heats on October 14 before the Final on October 21). That race is a bit further away than what I thought, so now I am able to give him a freshen up for a couple of weeks.

“He will have a couple of weeks off and then off to Ipswich.

“I think he will go even better at Ipswich than Albion Park. That’s because that track is a bit of a harder run which will suit him down to the ground because I believe eventually he will be a 600 metre dog. His run home is his best attribute.”

That is certainly what King Of Aces showed on Thursday night.

Emerging from box three he was momentarily stalled for a run as Bantam Magic pinged across from the eight box to lead.

However, Graham’s dog was able to accelerate out of trouble and was vying for the lead by the first turn.

“When he ran into second I knew it was all over then,” Graham said.

“My admiration and belief in this dog just continues to grow.

“The way he's going he will be the best dog I've ever had.

“This wasn’t just another win. It was the best. I am just over the moon with him.”

Graham, who is based in northern New South Wales, was joined at the track by his sons Daniel, who owns the dog, and Andrew.

King Of Aces’ record now sits at five wins and a third from six starts.

While he ran a solid time on Thursday night (29.86 seconds), his heat win the previous week in 29.54 seconds confirmed the ‘special’ tag that Graham had placed on the dog.

Meanwhile, South East Queensland master trainer Tony Zammit has set a Group 2 Sydney Cup over 720 metres campaign for his young distance star, Valpolicella, after her eye-catching win at Albion Park in a free for all 710 metre event on Thursday night.

The Shima Shine – Saldana chaser also found trouble early before gobbling up the field in an awesome run to the line to win by just over four lengths from Select Moment (Gary Mackay) and On The Off (Ricky Hassall).

“She is a staying star,” exclaimed caller John ‘ Bunny’ Brasch as Valpolicella surged to the winning post.

Zammit said after the win that he was really pleased. 

“In her previous two starts over the 710 she has won from either the lead or close to the lead," Zammit said. 

“It was great to see her that far back and to see what she was going to do and how she handled herself. To see her come from that far back was a great effort.

“She uses her head in a field. She will go around them, or she will go on the inside if she has got room.

“I trialed her at Wentworth Park last week and she handled the track very well.

“I might try to take her down for a graded race before the Sydney Cup (heats on October 6 before the Final on October 13) and to see how she handles the track in race conditions. So, the Sydney Cup is definitely still on the agenda.”

Smart chaser Bat Sign returned to the track with a winning performance at Albion Park on Thursday night ahead of Here Wolfe (Jedda Cutlack) and Super Shanks (Chris Brydon).

“He has had a shoulder issue,” kennel representative Stephen Rolph said of the almost month the dog has had away from racing.

“He hasn't trialed in the last four weeks so that was his first hit-out past 200 metres.

“We will go for a drive to Grafton on Monday for a trial there and we'll see how he measures up for the Million Dollar Chase heats on Sunday week.

“The dog has certainly showed promise, but injuries have held him back.”