Robert Smerdon is continuing to take a softly-softly approach with the stoutly bred import King Of England.

Smerdon had the option of running King Of England over 2000m at Caulfield on Saturday but opted to keep him for a benchmark 78 race over 1700m at Geelong on Wednesday.

Originally scheduled for Sandown's Hillside track, the meeting has been transferred to Geelong while maintenance is carried out at the city course.

After having three starts at Scone for Greg Bennett, King Of England made his debut for Smerdon on April 6, finishing second at Sandown.

Smerdon said Wednesday's race was a nice progression for the gelding before a possible 2000m run.

But Smerdon warned King Of England might still be a season away from realising his full potential and Geelong was probably not an ideal track.

"We haven't got time to get to the full depth of him in the autumn so we'll give him a few runs to get a guide, give him a break and see how he goes," Smerdon said.

King Of England is by Galileo from a mare by Monsun, the sire of the past two Melbourne Cup winners Fiorente and Protectionist.

Smerdon says King Of England has the breeding to run a staying trip and is encouraged by his ability to show up in shorter trials.

"He's bred to get over a lot of ground but his trials have been encouraging," Smerdon said.

"If he can get to a trip that his pedigree suggests then who knows what his level is.

"He's up there competing and winning trials and did win over 1300 and 1400 metres at Scone so if he can take that to a trip, there might be a bit of class about him.

"In fact we think as a consequence of that there is a bit of quality about him."