Sun King picks up steam

Zito works his pair as Sun King picks up steam


The $5-million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) seemed to boil down to three horses heading into mid-October, but a fourth runner has picked up a lot of positive reviews in the final week leading up to the Breeders' Cup World Championships on November 4 at Churchill Downs.

The top three choices—Bernardini, Invasor (Arg), and Lava Man—have won a combined nine Grade 1 race this year. Sun King has won just one of seven starts and is winless in three two-turn races this year, but Tracy Farmer's four-year-old Charismatic colt figures to be among the favorites of the 11 other horses challenging the top three. Sun King signaled his readiness by working five furlongs in 1:00.80 on Sunday morning at Churchill.

"Sun King deserves the attention; he's an amazing horse," trainer Nick Zito said. "He's always in it, always running his race."

Sun King has yet to break through in Grade 1 company, but has placed in seven Grade 1 events and won four graded stakes races. He has won six of 21 starts, placed nine other times, and has earned $1,992,978.

Zito also sent out Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) hopeful C P West. Robert LaPenta's Came Home colt will make his third career start in the Juvenile off a maiden win and a runner-up finish to King of the Roxy in the Futurity Stakes (G2) on September 23 at Belmont Park. He worked five furlongs in 1:00.20.

"They both worked good; they work good every time," Zito said. "Obviously, the Juvenile is a tough race, but if the raw talent is there, then that can make up for a lot."

Sun King finished third, beaten a length by Wilko, in the 2004 Juvenile at Lone Star Park in his fourth career start. Zito said that the extra start makes a difference in terms of seasoning but not in terms of developing talent.—Ed DeRosa