Sun King Shows Grit in Tampa Bay
Derby
Tracy Farmer's Sun King,
sent off as the 1-20 wagering favorite in the
$250,000 Tampa Bay Derby (gr. III) Saturday,
showed some true grit while fending off a couple
of challenges from the quarter pole to mid-stretch
before pulling away to a 3 1/4-length victory.
The handsome son of Charismatic led from the
start in the 1 1/16-mile dirt test for 3-year-olds,
in which he clocked a time of 1:43 4/5, slightly
off the track mark of 1:43 2/5. Forever Wild,
27-1, finished second with 62-1 Global Trader
third, 6 3/4 lengths behind the winner.
Sun
King broke like a shot and immediately went
to the lead under winning rider Edgar Prado,
then rated well to take the field through casual
fractions of :23.78, :48.65,and 1:13.54 for
the first six furlongs.
While
galloping easily, Sun King confronted late challenges
from Forever Wild and Medigating, who appeared
to poke a nose in front rounding the far turn.
Prado's
whip came out nearing the 3/16 pole, first left
handed, then right, and Sun King knew it was
time to go.
With
110 yards to go, Sun King lowered his belly
and put the matter to rest. Sun King came home
the last 2 1/2 furlongs in :30.14.
"I'm
very happy with the way he ran," said winning
trainer Nick Zito. "I was surprised he
went to the lead. I think [Prado] wanted to
school him and see how much horse he really
had and he did a good job. Sometimes you have
to do that. The horse is versatile."
"Tampa's
a nice safe track," Zito said of the surface.
"I was glad it was a small field. You take
what you can get to set him up good for the
Bluegrass (gr. I). You don't want to overdo
it in Florida, California, Oaklawn, no matter
where you stable. We had a good winter so far
and Tampa been good to us."
Prado
said he rode to Zito's instructions. "I
was riding with confidence every step of the
way and when he felt the company of another
horse coming he caught another gear."
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