ALMOST TWO DECADES SINCE KING WON CUP ON LET'S ELOPE

It has been 20 years since Steven King took his first ride in a Caulfield Cup and on Saturday, he will be searching for his second victory in 18 years since he won on Let's Elope in 1991.

King will ride Predatory Pricer who was installed as favourite for the race this morning following the decision of the connections of Speed Gifted and trainer Lee Freedman to not accept in Saturday?s $2.5m BMW Caulfield Cup.

Speed Gifted, who won the Metropolitan Handicap at Randwick last start, will run in Saturday week's Cox Plate at Moonee Valley instead of the Caulfield Cup.

King has been aboard the favorite in the Caulfield Cup on only one other occasion in his 14 previous Cup rides and that was last year on the Nigel Blackiston-trained Littorio ($4.60), who finished fifth, beaten 2.2 lengths behind All The Good.

King admitted there was no extra pressure given Predatory Pricer was now favorite. “I'm pretty used to it now so I've just got to go out there and focus on the result now,” he said.

King rode Predatory Pricer in his track gallop at Caulfield this morning and the veteran jockey said that he was a horse with all the right credentials. "His form has been outstanding."

Predatory Pricer, a half-brother to Takeover Target, finished a close second, beaten by a nose, in the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington two weeks ago and King believes that entitles him to be favorite for Saturday's race.

“I think so, I think his Turnbull run was great. His weight-for-age form is very good and dropping back to handicap conditions, he's going to be very competitive,” a confident King said.

“If things go right in the race and we get a bit of luck and you always need luck, I'm sure he'll be very hard to beat,” he added.

When asked what barrier he would prefer, King said a barrier between five and ten would give him options as to whether he went forward or back in the race.

“I will put him where he is happy obviously and where he is nice and relaxed and comfortable and just get him in his right gear and where that is in the run, I'm not sure yet.”

Despite King's 'wish list' for a barrier 'that most jockeys are after', a bad barrier seems to be no great obstacle for him in the Caulfield Cup. On the two occasions he has finished in the placings, winning on Let's Elope in 1991 and second on Grey Song in 2003, his mounts jumped on both occasions from barrier 17.

Steven King's Caulfield Cup career;
1989 – Sydeston (9th)
1991 – Let's Elope (1st)
1992 – Star Of The Realm (16th)
1993 – Great Vintage (11th)
1994 – Hear That Bell (14th)
1996 – Count Chivas (15th)
1997 – Istidaad (5th)
2000 – Citra's Prince (15th)
2002 – Dinstinctly Secret (4th)
2003 – Grey Song (2nd)
2004 – Delzao (5th)
2005 – Lachlan River (13th)
2006 – Serenade Rose (9th)
2008 – Littorio (5th)