Red King

Red King, a son of turf champion English Channel, broke his maiden in his fourth career start in spring 2017 at Gulfstream Park, and then competed in starter allowance, claiming, and allowance optional claiming races for the next two years while moving from the East Coast to California. He made his first stakes start in the Grade 3 All American Stakes at Golden Gate Fields in May 2019 for trainer Phil D’Amato and finished fourth, and then finished third in the Grade 3 San Juan Capistrano Stakes at Santa Anita Park before dropping back into the allowance optional claiming ranks for six starts through the rest of 2019 and 2020, winning once and finishing second twice and third twice.

On June 21, 2020, Red King made another start in the San Juan Capistrano Stakes, and this time unleashed a breakthrough performance, rallying strongly from off of the pace under jockey Umberto Rispoli to post a 4 ¼-length victory. He followed that breakthrough with another elite performance when he made a bid entering the final turn of the Grade 1 Del Mar Handicap Presented by The Japan Racing Association and then fought gamely to hold off Red King to earn an expenses-paid berth to the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf.