Speed King Wires Southwest Stakes Over a Valiant Sandman

January 25th, 2025 by Sean Collins

Content provided by BloodHorse

Speed King, Sandman, 2025 Southwest Stakes, Oaklawn Park

Speed King goes wire-to-wire to win the Grade 3 $1 million Southwest Stakes by a length over Sandman Jan. 25 at Oaklawn Park. (Coady Media)

Trainer Ron Moquett and owner Ted Bowman of Triton Thoroughbreds pulled off an upset Jan. 25 at Oaklawn Park in the $1 million Southwest Stakes with Speed King, who used his early foot to best eight competitors at odds of 14-1 on the tote board to win by a length.

The upset has now placed their promising colt firmly on the road to the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve.

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"I'm so excited," an emotional Bowman said in the winner's circle. "My wife and I, we're a small operation. She does all the books, (we) got a few partners that have never been in horse racing. It's just been special being here (at Oaklawn Park) where I went to the track with my mom and dad."

Speed King's victory, which paid his backers $30.60 to win, was set up as he took his customary spot on the lead while the three top betting choices on the tote board brought up the rear. After setting fractions of :24.11, :47.82 and 1:12.23, Speed King dispatched pace-prompter American Promise approaching the quarter pole at jockey Rafael Bejarano's asking. Turning for home by himself, Speed King had opened up an insurmountable lead and stayed to task in the stretch to complete the 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.86.

Behind Speed King in second was Sandman, who stumbled badly at the start and put forth a valiant rally in the stretch to grab the place. Tiztastic was third and favored Patch Adams finished fourth. Grade 1 winner Gaming, who was runner-up in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile presented by TAA, raced in the back of the pack throughout and never threatened to finish eighth.

The top five finishers earned qualifying points for the May 3 Kentucky Derby on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale. The victory moves Speed King to second place on the Road to the Derby leaderboard with a total of 25. The only blemish in the colt's three-race career was being caught on the wire by Coal Battle in the Remington Springboard Mile Stakes on Dec. 13. Coal Battle came back to win the Jan. 4 Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn.

"Obviously now, we're thinking big things, we hope," Bowman said. "We beat great horses today."