King of the Roxy’s first winner comes at Lone Star Park

The first starter for multiple Grade 2 winner and freshman sire King of the Roxy was a winner on June 16 when Prince of the Roxy drew away to win a maiden claiming race at Lone Star Park.

Prince of the Roxy completed the five-furlong race in :59.15 seconds to win by 2 1/4 lengths in his debut effort. Bred in New Mexico by Major Allen Howard, the dark bay or brown gelding is the first foal to race out of the Devil Diamond mare Josie’s Diamond. He is owned and trained by Bret Calhoun.

King of the Roxy, a 9-year-old son of Littleexpectations, stands at Poplar Creek Horse Center in Bethel, Ohio, for an advertised fee of $1,000. His first crop consists of six foals.

Bred in Ohio by Deborah Kopatz, King of the Roxy was originally owned and trained by the late Richard Matlow. He emerged as a classic contender for new connections Team Valor International and trainer Todd Pletcher with a win in the 2006 Grade 2 Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park late in his 2-year-old campaign.

He continued to make his presence known in spring 2007 with a win in the Grade 2 Hutcheson Stakes and a runner-up finish in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, eventually competing in the Preakness Stakes. Later in his career, King of the Roxy picked up wins in the Don Bernhardt Stakes and Honey Jay Stakes.

In total, King of the Roxy won five of 16 career starts for earnings of $600,707. Four of his wins came in stakes races, along with three runner-up efforts in graded stakes.

King of the Roxy is out of the winning Bold Forbes mare Marrakesh, who is the dam of seven winners from nine foals to race. He is from the family of English classic winner and sire Haafhd, Irish classic winner and prominent European producer Al Bahathri, and Grade 2 winner Double Discount, among other graded/group stakes winners.