Ford reckons Prince has makings of a king 'X-factor': Prince Cheri, ridden by Jay Ford, wins at Rosehill last month. Jay Ford continues his journey with Prince Cheri, which will hopefully take him to this year's Caulfield Cup, in the 2000-metre Kingston Town Stakes at Rosehill on Saturday. Since the former French stayer arrived in Australia, Ford has been part of his world and has been on board for his two wins and a third. However, it was during early mornings at Warwick Farm where Ford, who was Takeover Target's regular partner, got the feeling trainer David Vandyke had something a little special on his hands. "There was a real vibe about him that he was special," Ford said. I have been riding him for about nine months and even though it took him some time to acclimatise to our way of training, there was always something about him. He was lazy to start with but I thought there was X-factor there. It took six months to get Prince Cheri to the races and Vandyke says he didn't know what to make of the now five-year-old going into his Australian debut. "His work wasn't that great going into the race at Canterbury but he went out over 1550 metres, went past them and then pricked his ears as if to say, 'that's what I can do'," Vandyke said. You don't like putting too big expectations on horses but after that win and how he came back [into work] I thought he could make a cups horse. Prince Cheri has had only five starts, two in France, but has never missed a place and won three times. Even a third at Rosehill when resuming last month couldn't lessen Vandyke's and Ford's opinion, and when he was sat outside the leader to then dash away to win three weeks ago it was confirmed. "That was something different for him because he had always got back and he did it with ease," Ford said. He has only had five starts and is still learning, but he is smart. He knows what he has to do and the way he quickened the other day was something special. He is only going to get better as we step up in trips because he just travels so easily. Prince Cheri needs to win the Kingston Town to fulfil the ballot conditions for the Caulfield Cup.