Cork King heads to Sligo bidding to follow up Tuesday’s heroics

There will have been few better days in the young life of apprentice jockey Connor King than the one he experienced on Tuesday.

The 16-year-old rode a spectacular four-timer at Cork that, had anyone had the foresight to back, would have been available at astronomical odds of 14,725/1.

King will see the memory as priceless though, and after those wins on the 16/1 Kiss The Stars, 11/4 favourite Almadaa, the standout performance on board the 20/1 Jessica Harrington-trained mare Royal Blue Star and the 10/1 Horsewithnoname, King goes to Sligo on Wednesday evening chasing more wins.

“It’s a moment I’ll never forget,” he said following his feat on Tuesday. “You never expect these things coming racing. I thought Almadaa was my best chance and I would have been delighted to have just one winner tonight. To have four is just unbelievable.”

Following those successes the teenage schoolboy is pencilled in for five rides at the evening meeting in Connacht, with the odds on him once again winning all of his races standing at a huge 88,356/1.

Such a feat would be remarkable and extremely unlikely of course, but the young King does have a couple of good chances on an evening card which features the richest race run at the course, the Connacht Oaks.

King rides the 13/2 Strandfield Lady in that race, with the H Rogers-trained mare looking to complete a hat-trick following wins at Ballinrobe and Down Royal last month, both of which were piloted by today’s jockey.

Surely King’s best chance comes on board the 11/10 favourite Zafarqand in Sligo’s 19:40 though.

The five-year-old gelding has deserved to win a race for some time, and having just lost out by half a length to Kingdom over this same 1m 4f trip at Fairyhouse last month, this could be his chance.

With Ireland’s in-form jockey on board, that maiden tag could soon be a thing of the past.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publication