Can lightning strike twice in Ky. Derby for King Russell?

It took some help to get here. After a second-place effort in the Arkansas Derby (G1) put King Russell on the outside looking in the Kentucky Derby field under the 2023 points system, trainer Ron Moquett and company needed some scratches.

The colt was the third and final also-eligible in the 20-horse field. From the draw through Thursday morning, nobody budged.

Then, everything moved at once Thursday, with Practical Move, Lord Miles and Continuar scratching. King Russell became the last horse in.

“I thought we were in (after the Arkansas Derby),” Moquett told Horse Racing Nation Friday. “When you run second in the Arkansas Derby, you’re supposed to be in. Or second in the Santa Anita Derby, second in the Blue Grass. Those are the ones where the distances stretch out and you ought to feel strongly about going to the next spot.”

Now, the team’s attention turns to the task at hand. The colt was listed at 50-1 on the morning line and will start from the extreme outside post in what is currently a field of 19.

Rafael Bejarano has the ride for the race. Given the field, it’s going to be difficult for King Russell to become the next Rich Strike, who won last year’s Derby after becoming the final horse in the field.

Still, it’s never never impossible.

“We just need a good trip,” Moquett said. “I think he’s bred to go this distance, I think that he’s trained up to the minute to do well. I just need a good trip and I need him to bring, obviously, he’s going to have to bring his best.”

Moquett nearly bought the Creative Cause colt, out of Believe You Will, himself from breeder Brereton Jones. Instead, Jones kept a piece of ownership and sold the rest to Naber Racing, a client of Moquett’s.

King Russell was named for two musicians, Leon Russell and BB King. When he got to Moquett’s barn, the trainer likened his appearance to a cartoon character.

“I thought he was a big, kind of Baby Huey,” Moquett said. “Easy to be around, but very big and lumbering and just trying to put it all together. Kind of imagine Shaquille O’Neal as a seventh-grader.”

Moquett said he watched King Russell put the pieces together in his third breeze.

It took the colt five attempts to break his maiden, but Moquett said he watched him add tools to his arsenal every time he ran. He finally got it done in February, going 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn.

After that, his trainer decided to bet big.

“I said we’re going to win this race and then we’re going straight to the Arkansas Derby and the Kentucky Derby,” Moquett said. “And they were looking at me like I had four eyes or whatever but it worked out.”

In the Arkansas Derby, King Russell got off to a slow start before he came running late, getting up to second place behind Angel of Empire. He earned 40 Kentucky Derby points for the effort, beginning his connections’ long wait to find out if he’d get in.

Now that he’s made the field, Moquett, who will saddle his third Derby starter on Saturday, said he thinks the Arkansas Derby experience will help King Russell, and he always had a feeling the Kentucky Derby was possible.

“Just paid attention to him as an individual, plus paid attention to the athletes that’s out there,’ Moquett said. “I’d seen nine of the horses that are in the Kentucky Derby, I’d watched them run at Oaklawn, so I thought we’d match right up there with those.”