Like the King Works Five Furlongs at Keeneland

After wintering at Turfway Park and thriving on the synthetic surface there, Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) hopeful Like the King  looked comfortable on the dirt at Keeneland the morning of April 24, turning in a five-furlong breeze in 1:01.

Breaking two lengths behind workmate Artie's Princess , Like the King raced in the three path through the far turn, smoothly changed leads at the top of the stretch, and gradually worked his way to the lead in the lane. He then maintained a slight advantage over his workmate to the wire. Julio Garcia was aboard Like the King for Saturday's work.

Trainer Wesley Ward, who finished as the leading trainer at Keeneland spring and closed that meet with wins in the final six races he started at least one horse, liked Saturday's 7:30 a.m. move on a fast track, where Like the King was the first horse to work after the renovation break.

"I'm not looking to do a whole bunch right into the race; we just want to come out of the work as good as he went into it," Ward said. "Hopefully that happens. He looks really, really good; nice and smooth down the lane. He had that filly measured again, as he did last week; he looked a lot smoother this week than last week, when he was kind of on the bridle. Today was a lot more fluid."

Like the King galloped out to six furlongs in 1:15 2/5. Artie's Princess, a grade 2 winner on the synthetic track at Woodbine and Canada's champion female sprinter of 2020, was credited with a five-furlong move in 1:10 1/5.

"He's a very difficult horse to gallop so it was very kind of Keeneland to let me come out here during the workout time to where he's the first one on the track," Ward said. "He had a really strong last part of the gallop yesterday because a couple of workers came inside him and he almost ran off the last part. I wasn't looking to go :59 or anything today so it was really nice that he had a nice relaxed work."

Ward plans to jog Like the King Sunday at Keeneland, "just to keep him moving," then gallop him on Monday and Tuesday at Keeneland. After Tuesday's gallop, he'll be shipped to Churchill Downs.

M Racing Group's Like the King punched his Derby ticket by rallying from eighth to win the Jeff Ruby Steaks March 27 at on the Tapeta surface at Turfway. Since then the son of classic winner Palace Malice   has worked three times at Keeneland. Like the King went six furlongs in 1:16 on the turf April 10 and then a week later breezed six furlongs on the dirt, completing that move in 1:12 4/5 to earn the bullet from three workers at the distance.

Ward, who will be starting a horse in the Derby for the first time, likes what he's seen the past few weeks.

"I had a lot of questions whether or not he'd like the dirt," Ward said. "I think those questions have been answered the last two works—here at Keenland anyway. ... This guy is going the right way."

Like the King made his debut on the dirt at Belterra Park, finished second in a 5 1/2-furlong race there last July. He then stretched out to a mile on the turf at Belterra, rolling to a 7 1/2-length victory in that maiden race in September. Like the King then started in an off-the-turf allowance race going 1 1/16 miles at the Keeneland fall meet, where he finished third.

Like the King then wintered at Turfway, winning an allowance level race there in December, finishing second in the John Battaglia Memorial Stakes in February, and then winning the Jeff Ruby last month.