Gold for the King seeks repeat in Thunder Rumble

If it’s late November at Aqueduct, Gold for the King must be gearing up to win a New York-bred or -sired race.

As a 2-year-old about this time in 2016, Gold for the King won the Notebook Stakes. In 2017, he won a New York Stallion Series race by 7 1/2 lengths, and last year, he captured the Thunder Rumble division of the New York Stallion Series by more than nine lengths. Sunday, Gold for the King is one of eight horses entered in the $150,000 Thunder Rumble, and if he repeats in the race it will mark his first win of 2019.

Gold for the King didn’t start between January and June, when he finished a respectable sixth in the Grade 2 True North Stakes, but he was third at 8-5 facing New York-breds in the John Morrissey in August and a well-beaten fourth at 5-2 in the statebred-restricted Henry Hudson on Oct. 19 at Belmont. Can Gold for the King, Joel Rosario riding for trainer Charlton Baker, step forward with another November victory? Entirely possible, but if Gold for the King is a step slower than he was a year ago several others have a chance.

T Loves a Fight was claimed for just $10,000 in May and since has won four races. He most recently finished third, ahead of Gold for the King, in the Hudson.

Arthur’s Hope hit the 100 Beyer Speed Figure mark winning a Parx Racing allowance race this past May and hasn’t started since facing open stakes competition in the Hockessin at Delaware in July. He’s been posting Laurel Park workout bullets for trainer Marco Salazar.

Dark Money was claimed for $40,000 by trainer Rudy Rodriguez and clients on June 29 and since has posted two wins and a second – all fast races – in his three starts.

And My Boy Tate, unraced since October 2018, was at least as good as Gold for the King during the peak phase of his career late in 2017 and early in 2018.

The Thunder Rumble goes as race 8 of nine with post time scheduled for 3:47 Eastern. The Sunday card kicks off at 12:20.

◗ Complexity, trainer Chad Brown said in a Friday text message, could make his next start in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes, a seven-furlong dirt race restricted to 3-year-olds run in late December at Santa Anita. Complexity on Wednesday made his first start since a poor performance June 8 in the Woody Stephens Stakes, scoring a geared-down 7 1/4-length allowance race victory at Aqueduct. His raw time of 1:22.59 over a slow-playing surface yielded a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

◗ Frostmourne’s comeback race might have to wait. Winner of the Grade 2 Penn Mile at age 3 and a close fifth in the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile in his 4-year-old season of 2018, Frostmourne was entered in Sunday’s third race at Aqueduct, his first start since October 2018. The local forecast, however, looks uncooperative, with an 80 percent chance of rain. A move from turf also could lead to the scratch of Offering Plan, the New York-bred stalwart who was entered under a $100,000 claiming option, and Zumurudee, an also-eligible in Saturday’s Red Smith Stakes. Main-track-only entrants No Dozing and Dynamax Prime are key players if the race is moved to dirt.