'Arrogant' ride helps lead to Australian switch for Lingfield winner Pale King

Pale King, an impressive winner on debut last month at Lingfield, has been sold to continue his career in Australia with new connections wowed by how "arrogant" the winning ride was from Jamie Spencer.

Owned by a partnership which included prominent bloodstock agent Stephen Hillen, Pale King triumphed at Lingfield shortly before racing in Britain was stopped.

Spencer produced a typical hold-up ride before coming through with a late surge on Pale King, with the performance particularly eye-catching for new owner Rupert Legh, who has switched the three-year-old to the father-and-sons team of John, Michael and Wayne Hawkes.

Watch Pale King win at Lingfield

Legh, whose previous stars have included the talented, but mischievous, sprinter Chautauqua, told racing.com: "I've never seen a more arrogant ride in my whole life."

Pale King, a son of Dabirsim, made a winning debut for trainer David Simcock, who believes the three-year-old has a bright future abroad.

“He’s been sold to go to Australia and I’m sure he’ll be a very good acquisition for them,” he said on Tuesday.

“I would think he would keep on improving and I think he would be the sort to get quicker as well as he’s a big, imposing horse.

“He was owned by a partnership and it’s always sad to be losing these sort of horses. However, when the offer is right then part of the business is selling these horses on.”

No racing has taken place in Britain since March 17, four days after Pale King’s victory, and Simcock is continuing to keep his team ticking over ahead of any resumption in action.

He said: “We’re trying to keep things as normal as we can. The horses are continuing to train and the staff have been doing a really good job as we wait to hear what targets we may have for racing coming back.”

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