ARCADIA, Calif. (May 24, 2025) – Odds-on favorite Kings River Knight continued his stranglehold on the Crystal Water Stakes on Saturday, winning the $100,000 race for Golden State Series-eligibles for the third consecutive year at Santa Anita.
Kings River Knight is by Acclamation, out of the Poteen mare Seasontoperfection, was bred by Old English Rancho, is owned by Integrity Thoroughbred Racing, The Ellwood Johnston Trust and Kenneth Tevelde and is trained by John Sadler.
“We loved it, to see him out here run like a 1-9 shot should, that’s great,” said Leonard Miranda, part owner. “I’m just happy to be a part of it, with the Johnstons, who bred this horse and of course Ken.”
Kings River Knight has 11 wins in 18 starts, earnings of $710,330 and was coming off a sixth in the Mar. 30 Sensational Star.
“The late great Mel Stute said, ‘Any horse that wins more than he loses is a really good horse,’” said Sadler. “And he fits that. He’s a wonderful horse and he’s been good for a long time. Hopefully, we have a couple more good years with him. He’s just a hard trying horse and it’s easy to love him.”
Kings River Knight ran the mile on turf in 1:34.84 and won by 3 ½ lengths over Takes Three, with Coalinga Road third in the field of seven. Kings River Knight went off at odds of 1-5.
“John (Sadler) told me that this horse likes to run on the lead and the horse was ready, just ride him with confidence,” said jockey Juan Hernandez. “All the praise for my horse because, out of the gate, he broke in front. I just let him be happy there, he was traveling really, really well. I was just waiting to hit the quarter pole and finally when I hit the quarter pole, I asked him to pick it up and he took off to the wire and won easily. It looks like he’s back again.
“Last time, that was 6 ½ (furlongs) down the hill, he hadn’t run in a while, and I think he just needed that race for this one. Last time down the hill, we got beat, but I still like his race, he only got beat by a couple of lengths and that race helped him for this race to be ready to win this race.”