Moquett points Speed King to Kentucky Derby prep at Oaklawn
Speed King will get another shot around two turns when he starts Jan. 25 at Oaklawn in the Grade 3, $1 million Southwest Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles, trainer Ron Moquett said Friday.
The Southwest, raised to a record seven figures after previously being worth $800,000, is Oaklawn’s second of four Kentucky Derby qualifying races. The series begins with the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 4.
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Speed King, in his second start and his two-turn debut, finished second, beaten by a half-length by Coal Battle in the $300,000 Remington Springboard Mile on Dec. 13.
“We understand there’s some good horses coming for the Southwest, but we believe we’ve got a good horse,” Moquett said.
Speed King, from the first crop of Grade 1-winning sprinter Volatile, was a front-running, 2 1/4-length, debut winner Nov. 1 at Churchill Downs. He went off 22-1 and covered six furlongs in 1:10.25 to generate an Equibase Speed Rating of 93. He got at 95 for the Springboard Mile, which was run last Friday night.
After grabbing the early lead under Rafael Bejarano as the 2-1 favorite, Speed King was shadowed up the backstretch and around the second turn by Dr Ruben M. He shook clear in the upper stretch, but he couldn’t hold off Coal Battle on the outside approaching the wire.
The final time over a fast track was 1:39.25. Speed King took the 12-horse field through a 47.76-second half-mile and six furlongs in 1:12.21.
“If you look at the card, he was the only horse that ran well, that fought throughout the entire race,” Moquett said. “Even in the other stakes races, everybody won from the off the pace. He went up there and set some really fast fractions and fought down the lane. Congratulations to the horse that won, but I believe that we spent a little too much time staring at the screen (infield video board) on the inside, looking at that instead of running.”
Moquett said he doesn’t anticipate any equipment tweaks for the Southwest, which he won in 2015 with Far Right.
“These screens are farther away, and we’re not running at night,” Moquett said, referring to Oaklawn’s infield video boards.
Moquett trains Speed King for one of his most treasured clients, Ted Bowman’s Triton Thoroughbreds. Moquett and Bowman teamed to win the $750,000 Stephen Foster Handicap (G1) in 2006 at Churchill Downs with Seek Gold, a 91-1 long shot.
Bowman, who lives in Hot Springs, Ark., bought Speed King for $100,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale spring auction of 2-year-olds in training.
Speed King collected five Kentucky Derby qualifying points for his runner-up finish in the Springboard Mile. The Southwest will offer 20-10-6-4-2 points to the top five finishers.
Sandman, a sharp Dec. 13 allowance winner at Oaklawn, also is pointing for the Southwest, trainer Mark Casse said. Sandman has four Kentucky Derby qualifying points.
Mystik Dan, the 2024 Southwest winner, captured the Kentucky Derby.