Zayat Stable’s King Kranz breaks maiden in stakes race to open 2016
And so it begins ... 2015 was a magical year for Zayat Stables -- How could it be described as anything other after the march through history made by their superstar, American Pharoah? Today’s Lost in the Fog Stakes at Aqueduct will never be confused with any of the big races won by the soon to be named Horse of the Year, but as the first stakes race for three-year-olds of 2016, it seemed somehow fitting to see the light blue and yellow silks of Ahmed Zayat and family carried to victory by King Kranz.
Despite going winless in five starts last year, the dark bay son of Munnings had been knocking on the door against good horses enough to be considered one of the ones to beat in the New Year's Day feature at the Big A. Sent off as the 17-10 second choice, King Kranz earned his initial victory in style by scoring a one-length victory over Jan's Reserve.
Trained by John Terranova and ridden by Cornelio Velasquez, King Kranz donned blinkers for the first time, and broke from the far outside post in the compact field of five. He broke on top, but found his spot in second for much of the trip, just behind the speed of Zen Papa through an opening fractions of 23.13 for the quarter, and a half in 46.77.
Spinning out of the turn, King Kranz menaced the front-runner from the outside. King Kranz gained command at the eighth pole. The lukewarm favorite, Jan's Reserve, made a solid rally from last while in between horses, but the winner had plenty in reserve to hold his rival at bay to the wire. The winning time for the six furlongs over the fast inner track was 1:11.84. Jan’s Reserve was three lengths the best for second, while Sallisaw edged Zen Papa for the show.
After finishing fifth in his career debut, King Kranz had run four successive solid races, including a good second-place finish in the Grade 2 Futurity to Annual Report, but could only a manage a pair of seconds, and a pair of thirds for his efforts.
"It was frustrating last year but at least he started off the New Year right," said Tonja Terranova, assistant to winning trainer John Terranova. "We just left it up to Cornelio - he had the perfect draw, and could position himself wherever he needed to. We had worked him in blinkers, and it seemed to focus him more. Cornelio said today he was in the bridle the whole way. We'll sit down with the Zayats and see what's next for him. They might want to stretch him out a little bit."
King Kranz returned $5.40 to win, while the chalky exacta returned $9.60 for a $2 investment. In breaking his maiden in a stakes race, he earned $75,000 to raise his career earnings to $146,990, while raising his career mark to 6-1-2-2.