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By Ray Hickson

He might be Private Eye’s half brother but trainer Joe Pride says King’s Secret is profiling a lot like stablemate In Flight as he strives to emulate her on three fronts at Randwick on Saturday.

Joe Pride (Pic: Steve Hart)

In her three-year-old winter, In Flight was a first-up winner at Gosford then won three Benchmark 72 city races – including the race that corresponds with the Petaluma Handicap (1100m) at this meeting last year – and won the BOBS horse of the year crown.

King’s Secret posted his maiden win first-up at Gosford and will be aiming for his third Benchmark 72 win, plus he’s currently leading the BOBS horse of the year table and if he’s successful on Saturday it will likely clinch that title.

That award is for BOBS eligible two and three-year-olds and King's Secret has collected $50,625 in bonuses.

“In Flight was winning similar races this time last year,’’ Pride said.

“She won three 72 races, she got BOBS horse of the year, she came back in the summer and her benchmark caught up to her so I gave her another little break and it might be the same with this horse.

“Any of my horses that can win a couple of Saturday races in their first seven or eight starts they generally end up being Group horses.

“Look at In Flight now, she’s going for three stakes wins in a row.”

In Flight - who will chase a Group 3 win at Caulfield on Saturday - had a rating of 76 and carried 60kg to win the corresponding race last year, while King’s Secret has a 73 rating and will have 60.5kg so with the allowance for fillies they are remarkably similar.

Pride did dual accept with King’s Secret, $6 with TAB on Thursday, but elected to stick to the gelding’s own age and he said the fact he’s carrying 3.5kg more than he would have in the 1000m option isn’t significant.

He had 58kg when successful at Rosehill two weeks ago, where he bounced back to his best following an episode of the thumps in his unplaced run there on June 14.

“If I get a chance to run my horse against its own age or own sex and all it means is a little extra weight I’m doing it every time,’’ he said.

“It’s worth more than a couple of kilos.

“Take out the middle run and he’s been dominant over the three-year-olds he’s been racing against.

“They’re really good strong wins against his own age. To bring him back to 1000m now, it just made sense to run him over another 1100m.

“How many chances do you get to beat up on three-year-olds, this is it. He picks up $100,000 every time he wins one of these races.”

We know what to expect from Pride’s duo in the TAB Handicap (1400m) where Cool Jakey and Testator Silens will line up but he says he saw a turnaround in Aberlour last week that tells him she could be on the way back to form.

The dual NZ stakes winner has recorded just one placing in eight starts in Australia and Pride said she showed a glimpse with the ear muffs coming off as she ran sixth behind Brave One.

King's Secret wins at Rosehill on June 28

So she backs up in the Toyota Forklifts Handicap (1800m) with Pride a little hopeful.

“She’d won her races with them but I reckon the ear muffs in the run were switching her off,’’ he said.

“She wasn’t having a go. She would see horses coming up and around her and she was giving in, she fought the other day.”

All the fields, form and replays for Saturday’s Randwick meeting