A recent star of Colonial Downs’ Virginia-bred or -sired stakes days returns on Saturday as Determined Kingdom seeks his third straight $125,000 Punch Line Stakes, a 5½ -furlong turf sprint. Owned by Determined Stables and Kingdom Bloodstock Inc., trainer Phil Schoenthal will saddle the 5-year-old who was tabbed at 4-5, the shortest price morning-line favorite of the four stakes to be run on Saturday’s 11-race program.
“I think that he is obviously a deserving favorite and I wouldn’t want to trade spots with anyone
else in the race,” Schoenthal said.
The reigning Punch Line champion will face six foes, including his stablemate, Haywood Hyman
Jr. and Kingdom Bloodstock’s King Covee.
“Also, I’m a little bit excited to see my other horse run, who may be overlooked in the betting,”
Schoenthal said. “We claimed him with the Colonial meet in mind.”
With a bankroll of $481,789, Determined Kingdom ranks third among the top horses trained by
Schoenthal over his 22-year career. Since Colonial Downs reopened in 2019, the Laurel-based
conditioner has won 11 turf sprints from 47 starters, an impressive 23% clip. Determined
Kingdom accounts for four of those victories. Beginning with the 2021 Jamestown Stakes as a
juvenile, each of the gelding’s local scores has been an added-money event.
“It’s really, really fun and neat for the horse’s sake,” Schoenthal said. “It’s extremely difficult to
find a horse that is precocious and a stakes winner at two, and continues to win stakes at three,
four and beyond. Not many are fast early and stay fast throughout their career. so he is kind of a
unicorn in that regard.”
Having won each of the last two Punch Lines by more than five lengths, Determined Kingdom
appears poised to do equivalent damage. Drawing the rail with six foes to his outside,
Determined Kingdom will be guided by regular rider Victor Carrasco, who bagged the Boston
Stakes aboard Fulmineo on opening weekend.
“I was disappointed to draw the rail,” Schoenthal said. “That’s going to be a big challenge for us
with other speed drawing to our immediate outside. He’s probably going to have to send him
and use him a little bit earlier than he wants to be, so that’s a concern for us. I think he is clearly
the class of the race and is coming off a great performance in his return race off the layoff.”
One of Determined Kingdom’s main rivals is Larry Johnson and Bruce Quade’s Embolden,
trained by Mike Trombetta. The 7-year-old horse ran second to Determined Kingdom in each of
the last two editions.
“Honestly I think I’m maybe more concerned about Anthony Farrior’s horse (Ship the Goods)
than Embolden,” Schoenthal said. “He’s got blazing speed and I think that horse is going to be
very forwardly placed and probably will duel with us head-to-head. I think that If Determined
Kingdom doesn’t run his normal race or come out on top early or doesn’t bring his typical ‘A’
game, it will be more a factor of being hounded and dogged early by (Ship the Goods) then it
will be more than anything that Embolden does.”
Determined Kingdom exits an allowance win at Laurel Park where the son of Animal Kingdom
earned a 92 Brisnet Speed figure, just one point shy of his top. A recent addition to the barn,
King Covee shares the same sire but with just a maiden score on his resume, not the same
credentials.
“His return race was horrendous; it was terrible,” Schoenthal said. “We had planned to compete
in a turf race but couldn’t get a race to go so ended up running him on the dirt. It was a gross
miscalculation on my part as to how fit he was. It’s a lot more demanding to run over dirt versus
a hard and firm turf course. He ran half a mile, got tired and galloped home.”
King Covee has never run shorter than one mile.
“I told the owner let’s short breeze him Saturday and ask him for speed and see how much lick
he actually has–to see if we think he could actually be a sprinter,” Schoenthal said. “I breezed
him Saturday and he was wickedly fast. He showed a lot of speed that I wasn’t aware he had to
be honest.”
Carded as Race 6, the Punch Line is the third leg in the All Stakes 50-cent Middle Pick 4, which
also includes the $125,000 Brookmeade for fillies and mares at 1-1/16 miles, followed by the
Edward P. Evans at one mile. The final leg is the $125,000 Tyson Gilpin/Glenn Petty, run at 5½
furlongs and restricted to distaffers. Saturday’s 11-race program kicks off at 1:35 p.m. ET.
