Kingman© Melanie SauerEurope

Another US Graded winner for Kingman

Serve The King became his sire's fourth US Graded winner this season, securing the Gr.2 Red Smith Stakes at Aqueduct on Saturday with a late surge.

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 21st November 2021:

Peter Brant's Serve the King (Kingman) and Irad Ortiz, Jr. bided their time in the early going of the Gr.2 Red Smith Stakes and while it appeared they might not make it up in time in Saturday's 11-furlong Big A feature, the English-bred found another gear late to best pacemaker Channel Cat by a neck.

Channel Cat, this season's Gr.1 Man O' War Stakes winner, went straight to the front, with No Word in pursuit while the 2-1 favourite Serve The King lingered in a rail-skimming fifth. Still moving easily mid-pack down the backstretch, the Chad Brown trainee finally came off his inside perch and started to inch forward approaching the quarter pole. Fanned out five wide and with still a handful of rivals in front of him turning for home, the handsome bay appeared to idle for a moment at midstretch but came on in the final strides to eke out the win over the game pacesetter. Soldier Rising (Frankel) closed impressively to finish third over No Word.

Winning jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. said: "I had a really good trip. He broke sharp and was forwardly placed. He put me in a good position, so I saved all the ground for the whole race. At the half-mile, I started moving and he responded really well. I was able to tip him out and when he hit the clear, he was running."

He continued: "He was off the bit sometimes, but that's him. He's not a horse that's going to pull you all the way. Sometimes, you have to wake him up and let him know he's running. He's there for you, that's the good thing."