2025.02.26 Oaklawn Racing Update

Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025

Compiled by Robert Yates

They began seeking gold and now, almost two decades later, it’s all about being the king of speed.

Trainer Ron Moquett and owner Ted Bowman are making headlines again with Speed King, who vaulted to second on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with a wire-to-wire victory in the $1 million Southwest Stakes (G3) Saturday at Oaklawn.

Speed King’s victory came roughly 18 ½ years after Moquett and Bowman teamed to win the $750,000 Stephen Foster Handicap (G1) in 2006 at Churchill Downs with Seek Gold, who recorded a stunning upset at odds of 91-1 in his first start for the trainer and owner.

Moquett said Seek Gold was one of the first horses he trained for Bowman after he purchased the gelding in a package deal from prominent owner Robert LaPenta. Among Moquett’s current owners, none have been with the trainer longer than Bowman.

“I love it whenever loyalty is rewarded in today’s game, where everybody thinks that you go to the highest win-percentage trainer, constantly changing,” Moquett said Sunday morning. “I love to see someone that has been loyal have success.”

Moquett said Speed King ($30.60) emerged from his Southwest victory in good order and will be considered for Oaklawn’s two remaining Kentucky Derby qualifying races – $1.25 million Rebel Stakes (G2) at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 22 and the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1) at 1 1/8 miles March 29.

“We’re obviously going to lean towards that race (Rebel), with the ultimate goal the Arkansas Derby,” Moquett said.

Speed King was assigned a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 93, a career high, for the Southwest, his second victory in three lifetime starts. The 1 1/16-miles race is littered with trouble lines, including runner-up Sandman, and another slow starter in Gaming, a Grade 1 winner who was seeking to give Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert his record-extending seventh Southwest victory.

Speed King, conversely, had a trouble-free trip under Rafael Bejarano, who won the Southwest for a record fourth time. Breaking sharply from the extreme outside, post 9, Speed King cleared the field going into the first turn and controlled the race through fractions of :24.11 for the opening quarter, :47.82 for a half-mile and 1:12.23 for sixfurlongs. The final time over a fast track was 1:45.86.

Speed King was tracked much of the race by American Promise on the outside before finally shaking that rival late on the second turn and opening a 3 ½-length advantage in midstretch. Sandman, last early after breaking in a tangle, rallied to finish second, 1 ½ lengths ahead of Tiztastic. Patch Adams, the 4-5 favorite, bobbled at the start and was much farther back early than expected. He finished a non-threatening fourth in his stakes and two-turn debut. Gaming, rank and steadying early, was never a factor and finished eighth.

“With Whitmore, we were Sandman,” Moquett said, referring to his late-running 2020 Eclipse Award-winning male sprinter. “We were thinking: ‘Man, we’ll have to get them next time because we had a bad trip.’ So, I can really feel for Sandman. But at the same time, I was looking at Baffert and them and going: ‘Man, if I could just get these suckers to go to the front. I don’t have to deal with all that.’ ”

Bejarano said he wasn’t planning to grab the lead, but seized the opportunity after speed types like Gaming and Patch Adams didn’t break sharply.

“He’s very tactical,” Moquett said of Speed King. “We didn’t need to be on the lead. It just worked out that we were. We were going to get a good break and try to save ground from that point on. It just worked out where we were able to get an easy first quarter.”

The Southwest, a seven-figure race for the first time after previously being worth $800,000, allotted 42 total points (20-10-6-4-2, respectively) to the top five finishers toward Kentucky Derby starting eligibility.

Speed King has 25 points, collecting the other five for a runner-up finish, beaten a half-length by Coal Battle, in the $300,000 Remington Springboard Mile Stakes Dec. 13 at Remington Park.

Coal Front returned to win the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 4 at 1 1/16 miles, Oaklawn’s first Kentucky Derby points race. Coal Front (20 points) is No. 3 on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard released late Saturday afternoon by Churchill Downs. The Southwest was Oaklawn’s second Kentucky Derby points race.

Mystik Dan, the 2024 Southwest winner, skipped the Rebel, then finished third in the Arkansas Derby before capturing the Kentucky Derby. Moquett also won the 2015 Southwest with Far Right. Moquett then skipped the Rebel before finishing second behind future Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the Arkansas Derby. Far Right ran 15th in the Kentucky Derby.

“The ultimate goal is the Arkansas Derby,” Moquett said. “Whatever gets us there the best.”

Purchased for $100,000 at the OBS Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in training, Speed King has earned $669,000. He broke his maiden sprinting Nov. 1 at Churchill Downs.

Speed King is from the first crop of Grade 1-winning sprinter Volatile, who opened 2020 with a blowout allowance victory at Oaklawn for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.

Sitting Chilly

Next-race plans are still pending for stakes winner Jenkin, trainer Lindsay Schultz said Saturday morning.

Jenkin, a 3-year-old homebred filly for Arkansan John Ed Anthony’s Shortleaf Stable, is two-for-two this season at Oaklawn, breaking her maiden Dec. 6 and capturing the $175,000 Year’s End Stakes Dec. 29 in her last start. Both races were one mile.

Oaklawn has lost more than 10 days of training this month to winter weather, which has affected Jenkin’s racing schedule, Schultz said.

“I’m just waiting to get back into a normal rhythm,” Schultz said. “We can take a little bit of time and get back into it, but she ran two really good races.”

Anthony also campaigns Quietside, who finished second in the $300,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies Saturday at Oaklawn. The 1 1/16-miles Martha Washington was Quietside’s 2025 debut. She is trained by John Ortiz.