Speed King turned in a huge performance in winning Saturday’s $1 million Southwest S (G3) at Oaklawn Park, holding off a gallant Sandman to win by a length.
The 3-year-old Volatile colt earned 20 points in the Road to the Kentucky Derby Challenge series, which determines starters in the May 3 Run for the Roses.
Coming into the Southwest off a narrow loss in the Dec. 13 Springboard Mile at Remington Park, Speed King got to the lead right away after an eventful start that saw Sandman hop badly at the start and the Bob Baffert-trained Gaming steady sharply going into the first turn.
Speed King stayed in the clear from his outside post and narrowly led American Promise through a half-mile in :47.82. Speed King put away American Promise late on the turn, then dug in gamely to repel Sandman’s late charge.
Speed King earned a very solid 93 Beyer Speed Figure for the win.
“One thing for sure: To win this kind of race, you’ve got to have a lot of good stuff happen,” winning trainer Ron Moquett said. “And today, you’ve got to give credit to some stuff that happened to the horses behind us. Mr. Baffert doesn’t send an empty wagon over here and I think you saw by the stretch run just how good Mr. Casse’s horse (Sandman for trainer Mark Casse) was. So, there were some nice horses here and we were able to get them today and I’m sure we’ll line back up and try again.”
Now a winner in two of three starts, Speed King has earned $669,000 for Ted Bowman’s Triton Thoroughbreds LLC. Speed King was bred in Kentucky by Nancy Shuford.
Volatile had an excellent year with his first crop of runners in 2024, producing seven stakes horses and 26 individual winners. His progeny earnings of $1,854,660 ranked fifth nationally.
Oaklawn’s Kentucky Derby qualifying series continues with the $1.25 million Rebel Stakes (G2) Feb. 22 and the $1.5 million Arkansas Derby (G1) March 29.
