'King' back to his best for Team McCarthy

22 April 2023

THE late, great horseman Joe Ilsley was renowned as a master horseman who could take broken-down pacers and get them back to their best - and competitive.

The man who won the 1984 Miracle Mile with Double Agent will be honoured at Menangle tonight with the annual running of the $30,600 Joe and Michael Ilsley Free-For-All.

No doubt Joe’s amazing efforts with injury-prone pacers will be at the forefront of ace reinsman Luke McCarthy’s mind when he takes to the track tonight with former Kiwi pacer Kingmaker.

McCarthy admits he has had his share of injuries and problems with Kingmaker since he arrived in Australia and scored wins at his first five starts.

He’s chasing a hat-trick tonight and McCarthy admits he is now hoping to get the best out of the son of gelded son of Mach Three.

“When he first came across here Kingmaker was really flying,” said McCarthy.

“Then he blew a bad quarter crack and it took a while to get him right.

“Actually he’s had a heap of little setbacks and now he looks like he’s back to his best.”

Kingmaker looked in cruise control as he put away a quality field last weekend, scoring in a 1:56.3 mile rate and streaking clear to account for Rock Of Delight (Jack Brown) and Romanee (Will Rixon).

He’ll start close to favourite tonight after drawing gate six, but will come into gate five with the withdrawal of Hidden Courage.

McCarthy knows there won’t be any easy lead for Kingmaker as one of his main rivals, Whereyabinboppin is perfectly drawn in gate two to lead and look for an all-the-way win for James Rattray.

Another horseman hoping to steal some of the spotlight tonight is the in-form Will Rixon who heads to Menangle with six handy drives on the nine-race program.

Rixon has been in superlative form in recent weeks and at the ripe old age of 22 has more than 400 wins to his name.

He’s already landed more than 50 this season.

“I can’t complain I’ve enjoyed a bit of luck so far this year,” said Rixon.

“I’ve driven some nice horses for good trainers and I’m enjoying competing at the moment, that’s for sure.”

Rixon will be hoping to open with a winner when he pilots Western Style in Race 1 for trainer Chris Judd.

“He’s a chance,” said Rixon.

“If they run a good lead time tonight and he gets a cart into the race he should be in the finish.”