Kinsgsgate Native
2005 brown colt, by Mujadil out of Native Force
Race record: 2 wins, 3 places and £410,257 prize money in 6 starts
Kingsgate Native is John Best's sprinting superstar. Bought from the 2006 Doncaster Sales for just 20,000gns, the strapping son of Mujadil has made real waves in the last twelve months.
Kingsgate Native started off his career at no less auspicious a venue than Royal Ascot, where he went off the 66/1 rank outsider in the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes over five furlongs. In a startling display of precocity, the debutante colt overcame greenness to come within a nose of winning, beaten only by the more experienced Drawnfromthepast, to take a Listed second in his very first race.
The Group Three Molecomb Stakes at Glorious Goodwood was the Mujadil colt's next stop, where he was desperately unlucky to be collared in the dying strides by the top-class filly Fleeting Spirit.
With two seconds from two high-grade starts, Kingsgate Native was looking like a bit of a bridesmaid, but his turn came in the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes at York. The only two-year-old in the race, with the full weight of history against him - no juvenile had won the Nunthorpe since Lyric Fantasy in 1992 - Kingsgate Native went off at 33/1. He was to reward his backers when showing astonishing speed under a light weight to brush aside his elders and take the Group One prize - finally losing his maiden tag in the process!
Kingsgate Native finished his two-year-old season with a second in the Group One Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp, again against his elders.
He made his three-year-old reappearance in the Group One King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot 2008 over five furlongs. While he finished down the field, the run suggested he might benefit from an extra furlong, and he held an entry in the Golden Jubilee Stakes over that distance just five days later.
Few fancied Kingsgate Native's chances against the international prowess of superstars like Takeover Target, US Ranger and Sakhee's Secret, particularly so soon after his last race and with the unknown element of the step up in trip, but the son of Mujadil defied a price of 33/1, battling to a famous victory by 1 1/4 lengths.
Vital statistics
Owner: John Mayne
Trainer: John Best
Breeder: Peter McCutcheon
Foaled: 20 February 2005
Career highlights
1st, Golden Jubilee Stakes (Group One), 6f, Royal Ascot
2nd, Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp Majestic Barriere de Cannes (Group One), 5f, Longchamp
1st, Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes (Group One), 5f, York
2nd, Betfair Molecomb Stakes (Group 3), 5f, Goodwood
2nd, Windsor Castle Stakes (Listed race), 5f, Royal Ascot
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