Kentucky Derby Road: Jan. 25 Southwest Stakes, 1 1/16 Mile at Oaklawn Park

At 2-1 odds Gaming broke from post 1 a step slow, was checked twice early, pretty hard the second time, and never got involved at all finishing eighth of nine behind moderate fractions set at every call by winner Speed King and Rafael Bejarano who broke from the outside post. Sandman, the 6-1 third choice, stumbled badly at the break and was dead last going up the backstretch, but he fought valiantly in the stretch to get up for second, but not very close to the winner. Patch Adams at 4-5 stumbled a bit at the gate, kept trying through the lane, looked like he had third as the wire loomed, but was passed by Tiztastic who came on late for the show.

A slow slow slow 1:45.86 for the 1 1/16 mile. Purse was $1,000,000. Kentucky Derby points 20-10-6-4-2. Ron Moquett trains for owner Triton Thoroughbreds LLC.

Despite his slow time, Speed King was awarded a 103 Equibase speed figure. Speed King was assigned a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 93. Opening fractions were 24.11, 47.82 and 1:12.23.

Winning trainer Ron Moquett the next day: “I love to see someone that has been loyal have success. We’re obviously going to lean towards (the Rebel), with the ultimate goal the Arkansas Derby. He’s very tactical. We didn’t need to be on the lead. It just worked out that we were. We were going to get a good break and try to save ground from that point on. It just worked out where we were able to get an easy first quarter.”

Winning jockey Rafael Bejarano said he wasn’t planning to grab the lead, but seized the opportunity after speed types like Gaming and Patch Adams didn’t break sharply.

Speed King was second to Coal Battle in the Springboard Mile. Coal Battle returned to win the Smarty Jones Stakes.