Following a career-best effort, King Fury takes on older rivals in the Fayette

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainer Ken McPeek will never know if King Fury would have won the Kentucky Derby because, well, nobody will.

Instead, McPeek will have to settle for wondering “what if” after incurring the disappointment of having to scratch the late-running Curlin colt from the May 1 Derby with a minor but poorly timed lung ailment. King Fury has done his part in maintaining a foothold among the best of the current 3-year-old crop, with a 13-length romp in his last race, the Bourbon Trail on Sept. 25 at Churchill Downs, grading out to a career-high 98 Beyer Speed Figure.

“It was an ultra-impressive race over the Churchill track, one that makes you wonder how he might’ve done in the Derby,” McPeek said when entering King Fury for the closing-day feature of the 17-day fall meet at Keeneland, the Grade 2, $200,000 Fayette Stakes on Saturday.

“The Fayette is a logical next step for him,” McPeek said. “He needs to show he can be just as competitive against these older horses. If he can jump through this hoop – which I expect he can, as super as he’s doing – it’ll be a nice setup for the Clark,” the fall highlight at Churchill on Nov. 26.

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In his first start versus older in the 1 1/8-mile Fayette, King Fury and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. figure to have $2.9 million earner Code of Honor as their most formidable rival. From the rail, this is the field: Sleepy Eyes Todd, Manhattan Up, Militarist, Night Ops, Independence Hall, King Fury, Code of Honor, Fort Peck, and Major Fed.

The 64th Fayette is the ninth of 10 closing-day races and the last of three straight stakes. The secondary features are the $150,000 Bowman Mill (race 7), which will have eight 2-year-olds going six furlongs on the main track, and the $150,000 Bryan Station (race 8), which drew 13 3-year-olds going a mile on the turf.

General admission is unavailable for closing day, meaning all four Saturdays at the meet were sold out as Keeneland maintained a policy of limiting ontrack attendance to about 20,000 amid the ongoing pandemic.