Metropolitan aim for Grafton Cup winner King Pedro

King Pedro enhanced his spring staying credentials with a strong finishing performance to win the Listed Grafton Cup after overcoming a slowly run race.

Ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, the OTI Racing-owned $2.30 favourite charged down the centre of the track to defeat Etna Rosso ($18) and Kaluakoi ($11), giving the three-time Melbourne Cup-winning jockey his first Grafton Cup (2350m) victory.

“When I got him into the clear, he had a lot of ground to make up, but full credit to the horse. He powered and he was really hitting the line hard,” McEvoy told Sky Racing.

“It’s nice to pull it off. He’s a horse that is hopefully going to go to nicer staying races in the spring.”

Trained by Tom Charlton, King Pedro is likely to be targeted at the Group 1 Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick among the races under consideration having put back-to-back wins together and taken his record to 16 starts for four wins.

Earlier on the Cup day meeting, Jenny Graham produced talented King’s Legacy two-year-old Royal Exile to win first-up over 1175m.

A stablemate to this season’s Spirit Of Boom Classic winner Vantorix, Royal Exile scored by a two lengths with Aaron Bullock in the saddle as the $1.50 favourite.