Whitford bullish about her run-home King

By Isaac Murphy

Trainer Bianca Whitford might have been the only one not surprised by Ninetymile King’s stunning 29.84-second win at Albion Park three weeks ago.

Plenty were left in awe of his 12.36 run home on the way to a 13-length win, and the dog has since franked the form with another freakish finish at Ipswich.

The progressive two-year-old now looks a future star after only a dozen starts.

The dog won his Novice over the 500 metres at Ipswich in August but has raced solely at Capalaba until turning his attention to the circle last month, somewhere Whitford always knew he would shine.

“We saw it coming but it’s a relief to see him do it on race day,” she said.

“He’s been lighting up the trial tracks for a while, we knew it was inevitable he’d be doing it around the circle and it’s a bonus he’s done it this early.

“His one crutch has always been his slow beginning, so we’ve been happy to just let him cut his teeth at Capalaba to get a bit of field experience and I think we’ve stepped him up at the right time.

“Capalaba has been great for him, he’s won a couple of races and hasn’t had any issues with his metacarpal which had bothered him previously.

“We’ll definitely still race him there, his run home times were pretty sensational.”

The dog has won two of his last three, but it’s the times and margins that have been the real standouts.

“He’s a special dog and seeing him win by 13 lengths and run home in 12.36 which is close to the record was pretty amazing - we never expected him to win like that,” Whitford said.

“To come out two starts later and put 30.31 on the board at Ipswich, with an 11.63-second run home was real affirmation that he was as good as we thought he was.

“Training in Queensland, those are the two venues you want to be performing at and to see him do that when he’s still got so much to learn is really exciting for his future.”

Knowing his talent, Whitford has tread carefully with the prospect as he slowly puts it all together.

“He’s still very green, that’s why we kept him at Capalaba a little longer than expected, but he’s got no fear - his first Albion Park win he just charged his way through,” she said.

“The most pleasing thing about him has been his chasing ability, he was well out of his ground in his wins at Albion and Ipswich and looks like he’d run through a brick wall to win.

“When the races get tougher, he’s going to have to learn how to deal with a field a little better, but he’s only had dozen starts and I think the best of him is yet to come when we step him up to the 600 down the track.”

Sticking to her method of mixing his runs, Ninetymile King is headed back to Capalaba for the next fortnight, before a nice race at Ipswich.

“We’re still just bringing him along slowly, so after four straight 500-metre runs, we thought we’d bring him back to the Tommy Hoyland heats at Capalaba on Sunday,” she said.

“Hopefully he can make the final and after that there’s a Corporate Dollars race on for some nice money at Ipswich which looks very good after what he did last start.”

“He’s got a few strings to his bow, so at this stage we’re happy not to turn him out at Albion Park every week, but ultimately that’s where his future lies.”

Whitford trained with success in Victoria before moving north and after catching the greyhound bug again is building an impressive young kennel.

“I owned and raced his mum My Superstar in Victoria and when we moved up to Queensland, we sent her away to whelp a litter and received Ninetymile King in return,” she said.

“The original plan was to just own him and not race him myself, I was living in an apartment at Broadbeach when we first came up about four years ago and wasn’t looking to train but as this litter came to hand I started to miss it all a bit and got back to it.

“We found a nice little five-acre property at Coominya about 12 months ago; it wasn’t a greyhound property, so there’s been plenty of work but we’ve just got our first litter on the ground out of Aussie Infrared and Kakadu Kate which is a milestone.”