Rice has 1.25 million reasons to send Matt King Coal to Charles Town

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Linda Rice was considering several options for Matt King Coal’s next start, but the allure of a $1.25 million purse makes the Grade 2 Charles Town Classic on April 22 the most attractive one.

With that race in mind, Rice had Matt King Coal breeze a sharp five furlongs in 1:00.20 on Friday over the Belmont Park training track. It was the fastest of 22 moves at the distance.

“He worked very well,” Rice said.

Rice was considering the Grade 3 Ben Ali, which was held Saturday at Keeneland, or the Grade 2, $400,000 Alysheba Stakes on May 5 at Churchill Downs for Matt King Coal. But in Rice’s mind, the Ben Ali came up pretty tough for $200,000, so she opted to pass.

“I didn’t see the Ben Ali as being an easy spot,” Rice said Friday. “With that said, if we’re not shipping for an easy spot, we might as well ship for more money. I know that track has been kind to speed in the past, and he’s obviously got natural speed. Who knows how they handle the three turns or tight track until you get there? He does have speed, but he is a big horse. I’m sure the biggest issue will be who shows up.”

Matt King Coal suffered a pelvic fracture when finishing fourth in the Wood Memorial in April 2015. He returned with a second-place finish last November in an Aqueduct allowance race, where he may have been a bit short.

In two starts this year, Matt King Coal has won an allowance race and the Harrison Johnson Memorial, both at Laurel.

The horse to beat in the Charles Town Classic figures to be Stanford, who won last year’s Charles Town Classic in front-running fashion. Stanford is coming off a 3 1/4-length victory in the Challenger Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on March 11.

Others under consideration for the Charles Town Classic include Imperative, who was the 2014 winner of this race, Sunny Ridge, War Story, Cautious Giant, Bodhisattva, Page McKenney, Gangster, and maybe Collected.