Good to Be King catches Regent's Park late in Futurity Stakes
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Good to Be King benefited from a blistering fast early pace, rallying down the center of the course to a popular one-length victory over Regent’s Park in Saturday’s Grade 3 Futurity for 2-year-olds going six furlongs over the Belmont turf.
The win was the fourth on the card and third graded stakes for jockey Manny Franco.
Franco settled Good to Be King near the rear of the seven-horse Futurity field, at one point dropping more than a dozen lengths behind the pacesetting My Kid’s Said No, who posted splits of 21.71 seconds and 43.16 for the opening half-mile of the $200,000 Futurity.
Good to Be King, stakes-placed in each of his two previous starts in Kentucky, commenced his bid nearing the quarter pole, and angled five wide leaving the turn before wearing down Regent’s Park in the final strides.
Regent’s Park was sent after the leader entering the stretch, overtook him a sixteenth out, but could not resist the winner’s final surge. Luminous Beauty, one of two fillies in the field along with My Kid’s Said No, outlasted the others to be third. My Kid’s Said No turned for home approximately 10 lengths in front but staggered through the final furlong to finish fifth.
Good to Be King, a son of War Front, is trained by George (Rusty) Arnold Jr. for his breeders, Cherry Valley Farm LLC. He returned $5.16 to win as the 3-2 favorite after completing the distance in 1:09.06 over the firm course.
“I thought he ran really well,” said Arnold, who watched the race on TV from Keeneland. ”The one horse (My Kid’s Said No) got so far in front, you couldn’t tell what was going to happen. But I was very happy with the way he finished and happy to get the win. Hopefully he can move on to the next one.”
The next one Arnold was referring to is the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 30.
“That’s the place to go, the race to go to, if he’s good,” Arnold said.
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