By DRF.com
DEL MAR, Calif. (Sept. 7, 2025) — California-bred champion Kings River Knight has run his last race, and is leaving the track a winner.
Kings River Knight won the $152,000 California Dreamin’ Stakes at Del Mar on Aug. 2, and later was diagnosed with an injury, trainer John Sadler said on Saturday.
“He’s going to be retired,” Sadler said. “We’re going to miss him tremendously.”
Sadler did not disclose the injury, but said it was “enough” to end Kings River Knight’s racing career.
Bred by Old English Rancho and owned by the partnership of Integrity Thoroughbreds, the family of the late Bud Johnston, and Ken Tevelde, Kings River Knight won 13 of 20 starts and earned $855,830 in a career that began in 2022.
Kings River Knight won his first stakes in the Crystal Water Stakes for statebred turf milers at Santa Anita in May 2023 and finished his career with nine stakes wins, including eight of his last nine starts and his final three.
A 7-year-old by Acclamation, Kings River Knight won six stakes on turf and three on dirt, all against statebreds. His richest win was the $201,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic at Santa Anita in January 2024, leading to his Cal-bred champion turf male title.
Sadler said that Kings River Knight will be shipped to his stable at Santa Anita in coming days before he is sent to a farm in central California for retirement.