2025 King Of The Mountain champ Steady Ready on track for Melbourne missions

A delighted Maddy Sears said the stable would “let the dust settle” before locking in a firm schedule for the talented gelding, who repelled the late challenges of gutsy pair Russian Alliance and Millane in the 1200m King Of The Mountain on a Heavy 10 track at Clifford Park.

Apprentice jockey Cody Collis did a superb job to get the five-year-old son of Better Than Ready into a nice rhythm as he snatched a handy lead at the top of the straight before holding on to secure the $350,000 winner’s purse for jubilant slot-holder Jayven See, who was at the track to watch the thrilling victory.

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Steady Ready, who has won four of his past five races, will now have a spell before going first-up into the $160,000 Listed Lightning Handicap (1000m) at Eagle Farm on June 7 as the defending champion.

“Myself and Dad were talking at breakfast and we’d really like to give him a crack down the (Flemington) straight in Melbourne or one of those 1000m races at The Valley,” Sears said.

“He’s a very, very fast horse and it’s something we’ve spoken about quite a bit.

“We’re going to have a bit of a look once the dust settles and see what’s around.

“He’s easily one of the best sprinters in Queensland and he’s proven that.

“He’s had 19 starts and been in the top three for 15 of them and he’s clocked over $1 million in prizemoney now. He’s such an easy horse to train, he’s a gem.”

• Third time lucky: Steady Ready conquers the Mountain

It’s not a bad return for a horse that was bought for a meagre $70,000 at the 2021 Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling sale.

With heavy fog and driving rain causing visibility issues at the Toowoomba track last Friday, Sears was concerned that her King Of The Mountain dream could crumble in the wild weather.

“It was very touch and go. Race-by-race we were waiting on everyone’s comments,” she said.

“One minute you couldn’t see the winning post because of the fog and the next minute you were right to go. But that’s Toowoomba for you, we often get fog like that.”

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It was a case of third-time lucky for Steady Ready, who finished third in the inaugural King Of The Mountain, second to Rothfire on New Year’s Day last year before the planets finally aligned in the Garden City on Friday.

“I was quite confident the whole way, just the way he kicked clear at the top of the straight,” said Sears, who won the first-ever King Of The Mountain with Yellow Brick at the stable’s home track.

“Cody knows him quite well and he couldn’t have ridden him any better.

“He bounced him out and let him find his rhythm. I was not in doubt at any point.

“We took the staff out for breakfast (on Saturday) and we were saying that each year we’ve run top three and won it twice. It’s a pretty decent effort for the stable.”

Originally published as 2025 King Of The Mountain champ Steady Ready on track for Melbourne missions