Starzintheireyes set for Kingston Town Stakes opportunity

While John O'Shea and Tom Charlton's primary contender for The Metropolitan is out of contention, they are eager for another stable representative to vie for a place in that prestigious race this weekend.

The Randwick-based trainers are looking forward to seeing their promising import, Starzintheireyes, gain entry into the $300,000 Group 2 Kingston Town Stakes (2000m) on their home turf.

This import has yet to secure a victory in four Australian outings, but showed promise when finishing a luckless second on debut, narrowly losing to The Mona Lisa. Charlton is confident about the horse's future prospects.

"He's been unfortunate not to win yet in Australia," Charlton remarked.

"He's got a load of class and it was a big performance (last start)."

"We're pretty sweet on him and at some stage the penny will really drop."

Starzintheireyes, a progeny of Starspangledbanner, arrived in Australia with a record of two wins from five starts, including the Group 3 Zetland Stakes (2011m) at Newmarket.

The five-year-old competed three times in his initial Australian campaign, achieving a second placing over 1800m in benchmark 78 grade at Hawkesbury, a third in a BM88 over 2000m at Randwick, and a sixth in a 2000m BM100 event at Flemington on June 6.

He carries the second-lowest rating of the 19 horses entered for the Kingston Town Stakes, which is limited to a field of 14 plus emergencies, but Charlton anticipates he will exceed expectations if he secures a start.

"If he ran well it could open the door of a Metrop," he suggested.

"But he'll keep improving. He might end up in a nice race."

The only Kingston Town entrant rated lower than Starzintheireyes is Aethelwulf, who is the current favourite for the $750,000 Group 2 The Metropolitan on October 3. Leading the entries is ATC Australian Derby winner Green Spaces. Athabascan is also entered by O'Shea and Charlton.

King Pedro will not participate after an elevated temperature ended his chances of a start in The Metropolitan, a race for which he was the last-start Grafton Cup winner. However, Charlton remains hopeful of his return to racing this spring.

"We're assessing him at the moment and perhaps where we can get to, but the Kingston Town is just going to come a little bit too quick," he stated.

The Kingston Town Stakes is one of four Group 2 races scheduled for this Saturday's Randwick meeting, with Autumn Glow set to feature in the $1 million Seven Stakes (1600m).

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