Kings River Knight authoritative in the Crystal Water (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Santa Anita Press Box
ARCADIA, Calif.— Kings River Knight continued his winning ways with a gate-to-wire victory under Juan Hernandez in Saturday’s $100,000 Crystal Water Stakes for California-breds at one mile on turf.
Dispatched as a heavy 1-5 favorite in a nine-horse field, Kings River Knight scored by 1 ½ lengths over 61-1 longshot Barely Funtional with Mario Gutierrez aboard. Old Pal, the 5-2 second choice with Mike Smith up, rallied from last to finish a neck back of Barely Funtional in third. Coalinga Road (26-1), with Antonio Fresu aboard for trainer Carla Gaines, rounded out the superfecta.
Trained by John Sadler, Kings River Knight won in a final time of 1:35.75. He set fractions of 23.48, 48.44, 1:12.49 and 1:24.17.
“Kings River Knight won the race out of the gate because he broke so sharp, two lengths in front of everyone,” Hernandez said. “You don’t do that very often. Then, he took an easy lead. That’s his style. He loves running on the lead, so I just let him go. He was traveling really well throughout. I was just waiting for the quarter pole to switch leads. He switched leads, took off again and won the race.”
After breaking on top, Kings River Knight took some early pressure from Oubabe and Umberto Rispoli as they rounded the first turn. They remained one-two until reaching top of the stretch, when Kings River Knight continued to motor on the lead but Oubabe faltered, ultimately finishing sixth.
Runner-up Barely Funtional, who saved ground throughout on the rail, stayed on well to earn the $20,000 second place share of the purse for Reddam Racing.
Kings River Knight has now won five straight races and seven of his last eight, which includes six-statebred stakes. Owned by Integrity Thoroughbred Racing, The Ellwood Johnston Trust and Kenneth A. Tevelde, his record improved to 16: 10-5-0 with $649,830 in earnings.
“I think the key is we have such a great state-bred program,” Sadler said. “There are all kinds of races for these Cal-breds and he’s a good horse, so he has a nice path forward. He is a good honest horse and a good trainer. He trains well and eats good. I would like to have 100 like him.”
Kings River Knight paid $2.40, $2.10 and $2.10. Barely Funtional returned $23.80 and $7.80 while Old Pal, trained by Mark Glatt, paid $3.00 to show.
