KINGSTON, Jamaica - King Arthur stole the thunder from Nipster by hugging the rails after setting down for the final 400 metres home run and came away victorious with the King’s Plate in a three-year-old and upwards Open Allowance call travelling 7 1/2 furlongs at Caymanas Park on Saturday, July 3.
King Arthur, the 6/5 chance with Anthony Thomas in the saddle defeated Nipster (Robert Halledeen) by 1 1/4 lengths in a good time of 1:32.0 seconds with accompanying fractions of 24.0, 47.1, 1:11.4 seconds. Third place in this contest was taken by Roy Rogers (Jordan Barrett).
King Arthur has now won three races from five starts this year while his perennial adversary Nipster has registered one victory also from five starts.
This latest win by King Arthur, in the main, can be attributed to the skill of jockey Thomas, who waited with the four-year-old, then made his move while navigating the final bend and in the stretch run, Thomas quickly moved to the inside rails thereby blocking Nipster and Halledeen, with the latter two then forced to mount their challenge by pulling to the outside.
Owner Carlton Watson commenting on his horse King Arthur’s fine performance in the King’s Plate said in a post-race interview.
“I am quite pleased with the horse’s performance. It was a very pleasing race to watch and in the same breath, a very good win. The jockey did not make the same mistake this time as he did once before in an earlier race.
“King Arthur is a horse who loves to be ridden throughout his races and jockey Thomas asked him to go for it at the last three-and-a-half-furlong pole and should take the rail run that he loves. That was done, and from then on, it was all over.
“He is a very sound horse at present. He is a tough horse who is improving rapidly at age four and is in line to become a useful top grade campaigner for the rest of the year.
“The issues that he had before, his former trainer Wayne DaCosta has done an excellent job by working on them successfully and he has now recovered, and I am very pleased with his progress. The winning time of 1:32.0 seconds on this track is a very good time and the hope is that he can continue improving as he is doing at the moment to become more accomplished in his racing.”
