FOLLOW THE 2024 THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN

By Graham Potter | Saturday, December 30, 2023

THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN NEWS DESK:

The ever-resilient Master Jamie is the only runner from outside of South-East Queensland in the lineup for the $750 000 King Of The Mountain ... and, as always, the Graeme Green galloper will deserve every respect when the big race is contested at Toowoomba on New Year’s day.

An eighteen-time winner ... that’s right, eighteen ... Master Jamie has continued to do himself and his connections proud ... since winning the QTIS Breeders’ Plate by 5.75 lengths as a two-year-old on debut at Rockhampton back in November 2018, all the way through to his game enough effort at Eagle Farm a week ago in the Falvelon behind Zarastro ... that result coming five years after he first saw race action.

“He won the Breeders as a two-year-old. He was beaten second-up but then came back after a spell and won five-in-a-row to round off his two-year-old career,” said Green. Read more ...

MASTER JAMIE - IGNORE HIM IN THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN AT YOUR OWN PERIL (DECEMBER 30)

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Toowoomba trainers Tony and Maddysen Sears made it a local victory when they landed the inaugural King Of The Mountain with Yellow Brick back on December 31, 2022 ... and they will be at it again when the second running of the race takes place on January 1 ... along with four other Toowoomba based trainers looking to keep the trophy at ‘home.’

Donald Baker (who saddles Legal Esprit), Corey and Kylie Geran (Mahbaby), Jim Hanna (Spinning Spirit) and Kevin Kemp (Five Oxford) will join the Sears camp’s double-pronged attack (Steady Ready and Avone) to try and repel all ‘invaders.’

That gives the Toowoomba trainers half of the twelve-horse field, so they have the numbers to, at very least, make a nuisance of themselves as they attempt to drive home their home track advantage. Read more ...

LOCAL TRAINERS OUT IN FORCE IN THE SECOND RUNNING OF THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN (DECEMBER 29)

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You would think Ben Thompson will have a soft spot for Toowoomba.

Thompson seldom ventures up the range but in the last twelve months he has snared both the inaugural running of The King Of The Mountain on the Tony and Maddysen Sears trained Yellow Brick as well as The Weetwood, Toowoomba’s signature race aboard the Tony Gollan trained All That Pizzazz.

On January 1, Thompson will be back at Toowoomba to defend his King Of The Mountain crown, but this time he will be piloting the Robert Heathcote trained race favourite Rothfire, who will be one of the runners trying to prevent the Sears Training Partnership from making it two King Of The Mountain successes in a row themselves (they have Steady Ready and Avone in the lineup) ... whole also trying to peg back All That Pizzazz’s quest to complete the first and famous Weetwood / King Of The Mountain double. Read more ..

WILL WE SEE ANOTHER ORMAN V THOMPSON THRILLER IN A TOOWOOMBA FEATURE? (DECEMBER 28)

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From the moment Rothfire was announced as the first entry into $750 000 The King Of The Mountain at Toowoomba on January 1, a race in which twelve slot-holders choose the runners to represent them, within certain conditions, the Robert Heathcote trained runner has been justifiably cited as the horse to beat.

A Group 1 winner, a multiple Group 1 placed horse and a four-time Group 2 winner, amongst other quality results, Rothfire stands tall ... form-wise ... in the King Of The Mountain contest.

In fact, with more than two-thirds of the slot holders only nominating their horses very late in the piece, it did seem ... and probably still does ... that Rothfire’s inherent, top-class ability had frightened away some of the opposition. There was always going to be a field of twelve, but the impression was, not everybody was rushing to take on RothfireRead more ..

ROTHFIRE PRIMED FOR THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN (DECEMBER 28)

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While not the biggest race on the calendar, trainer Tony Gollan ticked off a box with great satisfaction earlier this year when All That Pizzazz, easy to back at $11, touched off the $1.45 favourite Yellow Brick in the Weetwood at Toowoomba.

It was a race that Gollan, originally from Toowoomba, truly desired to win.

On January 1, Gollan will be looking to add another first on his already very substantial resume ... and complete a famous Toowoomba feature race double in the process ... when he sends out his Weetwood winner in the $750 000 King Of The Mountain over the same track and distance.

And there has to be plenty to like about his chances.

All That Pizzazz has an impressive fifty percent strike-rate (seven wins from fourteen starts) and he is a last start winner (in the Listed Bribie Handicap) ... so he comes inti the race in-form and with experience of the Toowoomba track to back his claims. Read more ...

TONY GOLLAN AND ALL THAT PIZZAZZ EYEING ANOTHER BIG TOOWOOMBA FEATURE RACE WIN (DECEMBER 21)

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The Tony and Maddysen Sears stable will be the defending champions going into the King Of The Mountain contest on New Year’s Day at Toowoomba, having won the inaugural running of the race with Yellow Brick last year.

The stable effectively has two slots in the race with stable client Jayven See and Sears Racing themselves both owning slots which have now been filled with the Sears stable runners Steady Ready and Avone.

Steady Ready, who was a relatively early call, will be having a second bite at the cherry having finished third in the race last year.

“Everybody seems to have forgotten about Steady Ready,” said co-trainer Maddy Sears. “At one point he was the boom two-year-old and then suddenly they were saying, ‘whose Steady Ready? I don’t mind that at all. We are happy to have him as one of our runners.”

The Sears slot has taken longer to sort out, but that decision came through yesterday.

“Yes, we’ve got our slot sorted,” confirmed Maddy Sears. “We’ve got Avone ... and dad and I have been pretty keen on having her in it for a bit now. Read more ...

SEARS STABLE LINES UP STEADY READY AND AVONE FOR THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN (DECEMBER 21)

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Ben Thompson has been confirmed as the jockey for Rothfire in the upcoming King Of The Mountain which will kick off racing in the New Year in Queensland at Toowoomba on January 1.

It will be the second running of the King Of the Mountain with Thompson looking to go back-to-back after clinching the inaugural running of the race on the home town hero Yellow Brick on New Year’s Eve on December 31, 2022.

Thompson rode Rothfire for the first time when the nine-time, Group 1 winning son of Rothesay resumed in the Group 3 George Moore on December 2 in a run which produced a typical committed effort from the Robert Heathcote trained runner.

Although he had to settle for second place that day, the fact that he stuck to the very well performed front-running Zoustyle all the way to only finish a half-a-length back, while lumping the steadying burden of 61kg, giving away a 5kg advantage to Zoustyle at the weights, spoke volumes about the on-going competitiveness of Rothfire, whose resilience has regularly been on display the highest level. Read more ...

NO RUSH TO TAKE ON ROTHFIRE IN THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN. TEN OF THE TWELVE SLOTS REMAIN OPEN (DECEMBER 11)

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