After Rebel Defeat, Speed King Targets Arkansas Derby

Speed King is being pointed to Oaklawn Park's $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1) at 1 1/8 miles March 29, trainer Ron Moquett said March 2. Owned by Ted Bowman of Hot Springs, Speed King will be looking to rebound from a 10th-place finish in the $1.25 million Rebel Stakes (G2) 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 is sound and happy. Coming out there going wide, we thought we didn't need to use him too much to go with the pace. The way the track was playing, that was the exact opposite. We should have used him enough to get over to the good part of the track and not be wide around the first turn. It seemed the like rail was probably the spot to be. Not saying that's the reason we lost, but it seemed like it would have been a lot easier on the horse." Speed King ranks 11th on the Kentucky Derby (G1) leaderboard with 25 points. The gray son of Volatile collected 20 points for a wire-to-wire one-length victory in the $1 million Southwest Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 25 at Oaklawn. The Southwest was Oaklawn's second of four Kentucky Derby qualifying races. The Arkansas Derby will award 200 total points (100-50-25-15-10, respectively) to the top five finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby. Moquett worked one of his other top 3-year-olds Sunday morning at Oaklawn in Hymn, who breezed a half-mile in :48. The track was fast. Hymn, from the first crop of millionaire multiple grade 1 winner McKinzie, hasn't started since winning his career debut sprinting by four lengths Feb. 8 at Oaklawn. "Hopefully, there's an allowance race to go into," Moquett said. "If he does well in that, we'll think about a stake at the end of the meeting." Moquett was referring to the $200,000 Bathhouse Row for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles April 19. Moquett also mentioned the Pat Day Mile (G2) May 3 at Churchill Downs as another possible spring target. "I want to run him a route," Moquett said. "He wants to run a route. We've nominated him to a lot of races in a lot of places."