Speed King

Travel plans for the GI Arkansas Derby runners are taking shape as top two Sandman (Tapit) and Publisher (American Pharoah) are scheduled to make the move to Churchill Monday. Positive prognoses abound Sunday as trainers prepared their charges for the haul to Churchill Downs ahead of the final preparations for the first Saturday in May. Sandman relished not only the added distance, as his dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse predicted, but also the meteoric pace up front courtesy of Cornucopian (Into Mischief) and Speed King (Volatile). His preliminary...

Bob Baffert has found himself in a familiar position as he once again brings a well-met runner into Saturday's GI Arkansas Derby with all the buzz behind him, this time in the form of 'TDN Rising Star' Cornucopian (Into Mischief), who has been made the 7-5 morning line favorite from the nine hole. Fresh off an unveiling which garnered the stamp of approval from the TDN, and stopped the clock in a six-furlong maiden special in an eye-catching 1:09.02--the fastest by a 3-year-old in Oaklawn history--the son of Into Mischief...

Ted Bowman of Hot Springs' Speed King (Volatile) is being pointed to the GI Arkansas Derby at 1 1/8 miles Mar 29, trainer Ron Moquett of Hot Springs said Sunday morning. The grey will be looking to rebound from a 10th-place finish in the GII Rebel Stakes at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 23. Speed King, who broke from post 10, was beaten 15 lengths by Coal Battle after chasing a hot pace. "I think there were a lot of variables in it," Moquett said. "My main thing is the horse...

In racing as in life, good things come to those who wait. And while we have had to endure an extra 24 hours for Sunday's rescheduled GII Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, the wait may just prove worth it as a full, competitive field of 3-year-olds line up with 50 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby on the line. The top three runners from the GIII Southwest Stakes face each other once again Sunday with Speed King (Volatile) taking top billing back on Jan. 25 over a hard-closing...

Coming off of a strong 2024 renewal which saw a record three seven-figure mares go through the ring, the 2025 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale kicks off in a consolidated single session at Newtown Paddocks Monday morning with bidding set to begin at 10 a.m. 414 catalogued hips are on offer including exciting late supplemental adds such as 14-year-old broodmare Athenian Beauty (Corinthian), the dam of this year's GIII Southwest Stakes winner Speed King (Volatile), who sells in foal to Caracaro from the Taylor Made Sales Consignment. "That's a great...

Athenian Beauty (Corinthian--I'm Out First, by Allen's Prospect), whose 3-year-old son Speed King (Volatile) caused a 14-1, front-running upset in the GIII Southwest Stakes Jan. 25, is among the latest supplements to the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale to be held Monday, Feb. 3 in Lexington. Catalogued as hip 413 and offered by Taylor Made Sales Agency, the 14-year-old mare is out of a winning daughter of four-time stakes winner and Grade III-placed Im Out First, whose MSW & GSP daughter Im A Dixie Girl (Dixie Union) is responsible for...

Saffie Joseph, Jr. has had some big days since he came to the U.S. from his native Barbados in 2011, but perhaps none bigger than last Saturday at Gulfstream Park. He had three stakes wins, including a score with Be Your Best (Ire) (Muhahaarar ({GB}) in the GII Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes and a win with Mystic Lake (Mo Town) in the GII Inside Information Stakes. But the one that really mattered was the victory by White Abarrio (Race Day) in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes....

Newly-turned 3-year-old Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) and Saturday's GI Pegasus World Cup winner White Abarrio (Race Day) top Week 1 of the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll through Jan. 26. In addition to Citizen Bull, who won the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar last November, Bob Baffert also trains the second-place 3-year-old in Barnes (Into Mischief). Godolphin's 'TDN Rising Star' East Avenue (Medaglia d'Oro) was third while Saturday's GIII Southwest Stakes winner Speed King (Volatile) rounded out the top five. White Abarrio was the top-ranked thoroughbred, beating out newly-crowned...

Jockeys either misjudging the location of an alternate finish line or failing to ride all-out under a traditional wire placement have been in the news on four occasions since October. But after apparently failing to realize that a one-mile stakes on Saturday ended at the sixteenth pole under Oaklawn Park's short-stretch configuration for races at that distance, the 22-year veteran Rafael Bejarano got penalized for essentially the opposite infraction. Timing his ride on a closer like there was still half a furlong to go, Bejarano kept whipping and driving his...

Speed King (Volatile), second as the favorite in the Remington Springboard Mile Stakes Dec. 13, ran them off their feet in Saturday's GIII Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park, good for 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Overlooked at odds of 14-1 while drawn widest of all in post nine, Speed King cleared the field beneath Rafael Bejarano heading into the clubhouse turn. He set fractions of :24.11 and :47.82, gave them the slip on the far turn and kept on finding down the stretch to pull off...

5th-Churchill Downs, $123,375, Msw, 11-1, 2yo, 6f, 1:10.25, ft, 2 1/4 lengths. SPEED KING (c, 2, Volatile--Athenian Beauty, by Corinthian) defied the betting public's 22-1 odds here with a frontrunning score in this unveiling beneath the Twin Spires. Bumped leaving the gate, but able to recover quickly enough to step forward to set the pace, the grey put space between himself and the field via :22.25 and :45.78 opening fractions. Entering the lane with a 2 1/2-length margin, he greenly but gamely hung on to win despite lingering on his...