New owners reap dividends with King and His Court in Coronation Futurity
ETOBICOKE, Ontario — King and His Court, a recent private purchase by Gary Barber and Watchel Stable, returned immediate dividends by winning Sunday’s $250,400 Coronation Futurity at Woodbine over another Mark Casse trainee, State of Honor.
State of Honor went straight to the front under Patrick Husbands, and proceeded to set moderate fractions in the nine-furlong route for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds.
King and His Court rated kindly along the inside about five lengths off the lead under Gary Boulanger. He began to mount a rail rally around the quarter pole, and then mowed down State of Honor at the sixteenth pole en route to a 2 1/4-length tally, in a final time of 1:50.76.
Escondera finished four lengths in arrears in third. He was followed by Tidal Dancer, Guy Caballero, Woodbridge, Jurojin, Lokinforpursemonee, and Pachi Cruze.
“I had a great trip,” said Boulanger. “I was looking for Patrick, and Alan Garcia [on Tidal Dancer] was in front of me. I was just tracking them. I made a move on the turn. I didn’t want to split horses. The rail opened up, and he was push-button. You hit the button, and he was gone.”
King and His Court returned $7.30 as the favorite, and earned $150,000. A son of Court Vision, he was a $3,000 yearling purchase by his previous owner-trainer, Alex Patykewich.