Kingswood on the hunt for back-to-back NZ Group 1s

Kingswood is on the hunt for back-to-back New Zealand Group 1s.

The Gavin Bedggood-trained six-year-old grey was dominant when winning the G1 Zabeel Classic (2000m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.

He’ll now tackle the G1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa this Saturday and Bedggood is confident he’ll be primed to run a big race.

“He’s great. He had a gallop in between races at Te Rapa on Friday and worked very strong,” Bedggood said on SENTrack & RSN’s Giddy Up.

“He’s in really good order.”

It looks another winnable Group 1 race with the likes of Knobelas, 2024 winner Legarto and last year’s Herbie Dyke victor El Vencedor the major contenders.

There are question marks over El Vencedor who “went terrible” as favourite in the Fulton Family Stakes (1500m) at Ellerslie last weekend, according to Gareth Hall.

That gives Bedggood plenty of hope for his galloper.

“I watched that on the weekend and was quite intrigued,” he added.

“It will be interesting to see if he lines up on the weekend but you’ve got to have respect for that horse. He’s a three-time Group 1 winner.

“I can only worry about my own horse. Six weeks between runs wasn’t ideal but we’ve done as much as we can to keep him up to the mark.

“He’s in very good order.”

Bedggood insists that six weeks between runs will be no excuse for Kingswood who is currently the $1.90 favourite with Sportsbet.

“He’s a clean-winded horse. I don’t start him short of 1700-1800m in a preparation. He’s had five runs in and it is what it is,” he said of the gap between runs.

“I won’t be making excuses for the weekend.”

Kingswood is currently preparing at Pukekohe but Bedggood admits he could move him down to Cambridge if they decide to stick around in New Zealand for a third run.

Rory Hutchings will retain the ride on Kingswood this weekend. He won his second Herbie Dyke on El Vencedor last year after first claiming the race aboard Soriano in 2015.

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