Ever hungry for winners, James King is rueing the abandonment of tomorrow’s planned meeting at Umberleigh.
King, who won the Tattersalls Cheltenham-sponsored national men’s championship for a fourth time when the 2024/25 season ended recently, would have headed to the north Devon track to ride another champion, Inchidaly Robin, a horse on whom he had already won eight races in less than two months. Inchidaly Robin, an Irish-bred eight-year-old, had been well beaten in four Irish point-to-points from December to early March, was then sold into the South Wales stable of Luke Price and less than four weeks later opened his account with a victory at Larkhill.
He then won seven more on the trot to end the 2024/25 season as the Connolly’s RED MILLS leading horse. He also helped propel Price to the Isuzu-backed champion owner title.
James King, who was lucky enough to ride the season's leading horse to eight victories (Ce)
King says of Inchidaly Robin: “I think you could call him the ultimate point-to-pointer, because he’s won over two miles five furlongs and three miles, he’s won on firm and [watered] easy ground, and he’s started off with a restricted race win and gone up through the grades to win in open company. He would have run at Umberleigh because when a horse is right you might as well run them, and you don’t know how good they might be next season.
“It’s like footballers who can’t stop scoring, and then come back the following season and can’t put one foot in front of the other. Hopefully that won’t happen to this horse, but we won’t know until next season.”
King does not believe Inchidaly Robin is “a Foxhunters’ horse”, and while he feels he could win a standard hunters’ chase he says: “We love point-to-pointing, and I’d rather win a point-to-point than finish fifth in a hunters’ chase.”
Inchidaly Robin and King touch down on their way to victory at Holnicote last month (Ce)
Inchidaly Robin was not so successful in his homeland, where he ran in 12 point-to-points and won just once, in October 2022, while in nine races under rules he drew a blank. A change of scenery, some magic from his new trainer, the chance to race on quicker ground and in small-field races all helped bring about the run of victories, while the assistance of King was another plus
The rider says: “I think he’s probably right up there with the best horses Luke and his father [Kieran] have trained. Spencer Moon [who won 16 point-to-points and a hunters’ chase] was probably the best, but this horse could be the next Spencer Moon.
“He’s relatively straightforward to ride in a race, although he can be a little quirky at home and he sometimes gives a buck when leaving the paddock or when cantering to post. He can race behind the bridle for the first mile or mile and a half, but then he grows in confidence and latches on.
“I don’t want to tempt fate, but his jumping has been good. He can get in and pop a fence when he needs to, but if you give him a squeeze he comes up for you. There were times when he would wing a fence and go two or three lengths ahead and I’d have to steady him up in front.”
Luke Price, who turned Inchidaly Robin from a loser into a multiple winner (Ce)
King is no less complimentary about the trainer, while anyone who saw Inchidaly Robin in the paddock during the season would have to take their hat off to Price’s sole employee, Evie Toozer, who turned the horse out as if he was in a showing class.
King says: “Luke is very good at placing horses and he is a real grafter. He can do the hard work with the horses at home, but for anything else he has to box them to the beach or to Tim Vaughan’s gallop, which all takes time. I can be sitting at home at 8pm, give him a ring and he’s still on the gallops. Fair play to him – he deserves his success.”