Kentucky Derby prep: Speed King holds on in Southwest

Speed King, the beneficiary of the trouble that hindered rivals behind him, led at every call Saturday to score a 14-1 upset victory in the Grade 3, $1 million Southwest Stakes, a Kentucky Derby 2025 points prep at Oaklawn.

Owned by Triton Thoroughbreds and trained by Ron Moquett, the colt who was sired by Volatile set fractions of 24.11, 47.82, 1:12.23 and 1:39.15 on the way to a winning time of 1:45.86 for the 1 1/16 miles on the fast main track.

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Ridden by Rafael Bejarano, Speed King won by one length over hard-luck runner-up Sandman (6-1), who stumbled badly at the start and bumped with odds-on favorite Patch Adams (4-5) in the stretch. Tiztastic (16-1) was another 1 1/2 lengths back in third. Patch Adams rallied from seventh to get to second before fading late to fourth. Monet’s Magic (44-1) took fifth.

Speed King paid $30.60, $12.00 and $7.20; Sandman $7.40 and $5.20; and Tiztastic $8.40.

There was an stewards inquiry into the stretch run. Sixth-place American Promise (21-1), ridden by Tyler Bacon, was demoted to seventh after forcing Publisher (53-1) into the rail before the eighth pole. Publisher was promoted to sixth.

Gaming (2-1) was rank early and had to check approaching the first turn before he settled for eighth. Bon Temps (83-1) was last of the nine 3-year-olds.

The top five finishers were awarded 20-10-6-4-2 points toward qualifying for the Kentucky Derby.

Speed King was a debut winner in November at Churchill Downs. He finished second in the Remington Springboard Mile last month, earning five Derby points. Saturday’s victory lifted him to 25 qualifying points.