Smooth sailing for Navy King

Promising three-year-old Navy King showcased his staying talent on the big stage when he streeted a competitive age group line-up over 2000 metres at Flemington.Our homebred son of U S Navy Flag had finished fourth at Caulfield in his first attempt over the distance and he showed the benefit of that experience with a hollow victory.Navy King is prepared at Warrnambool by Symon Wilde and is fashioning a tidy record with three successes and four minor placings from 10 starts.“This is my first winner at Flemington, so it was extremely exciting,” part-owner James Mahony said.“Symon has always had a really good opinion of this horse and to win as well as he did was a fantastic training performance.”Navy King was given a cosy run in the trail by Daniel Stackhouse before angling into the clear at the top of the straight.The gelding strode to the front 400 metres from home and cruised to the post with a length and a-half to spare.Out of the O’Reilly mare Eliza Blues, we sold Navy King to Wilde Racing for A$90,000 at the Inglis Melbourne Yearling Sale.The dam is a half-sister to the G3 Marton Metric Mile winner Old Belvedere and won two races and finished runner-up in the G1 Queensland Oaks. Their third dam is the multiple Group 1 winner Canterbury Belle.Leading trainer Ciaron Maher purchased Eliza Blues’ Almanzor colt, named Victory Blues, at Karaka last year for $65,000 and she is back in foal to U S Navy Flag.