The King Cheek edges Hozier to his inside in Saturday’s Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico. Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club Photo.
By Tom Law
Jamie Ness always thought The King Cheek would fare better at a distance of ground. He just took his time stretching the 3-year-old son of Laoban beyond one-turn sprints.
Ness stretched The King Cheek out Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, to 1 1/16 miles in the opening $99,000 Sir Barton Stakes to lead off the Preakness Day card, and the New York-bred gelding edged odds-on favorite Hozier for the victory. Coming off a win in a 6-furlong open optional at Parx Racing May 3, The King Cheek won the restricted Sir Barton by a head in 1:42.81 under Jaime Rodriguez.
“I always thought he was a two-turn horse,” Ness said after the race. “This was kind of a last-second entry. It was kind of a short field.”
Ness found that out when the Maryland Jockey Club’s racing office phoned, hustling runners to take on the Bob Baffert-trained Hozier dropping into the restricted stakes off a second in the Grade 2 Rebel and a sixth in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.
“You got any 3-year-olds that are doing good?” they asked.
“Yeah, for what?”
“The Sir Barton.”
“All right, let’s go.”
The King Cheek improved to 4-for-9 with the quick turnaround. He went to the front from the break, which saw Market Cap stumble and lose jockey Johan Rosado. The King Cheek and Rodriguez clicked off early splits of :24.06 and :47.67 with a length advantage over the 3-5 Hozier and Joel Rosario. Hozier edged up the inside around the far turn and was a half-length in front through 6 furlongs in 1:12.69 and into the stretch.
The King Cheek didn’t give way and found back inside the eighth pole for the victory. Hozier finished 9 ½ lengths clear of third-place finisher Romp with Golden Gulley fourth.
“When the favorite came up inside us it looked like uh-oh,” Ness said. “But he re-engaged and it was a hard-fought battle right to the wire, and luckily we got in front.”
Ness and owners Morris Kernan and Jagger Inc. claimed The King Cheek for $25,000 late last September at Delaware Park. He finished sixth of eight that day, well beaten in his second start.
“It was a five-way shake and he ran terrible,” Ness aid. “I was with my owner and I go, ‘go lose the shake,’ Then he comes out with the slip and I go, ‘awww.’ Now here we are. You just never know. I’ve claimed a lot of horses and you just never know.”
Bred by Pucker Ridge Farm LLC and out of the War Chant mare Selfie, The King Cheek broke his maiden in his first start for Ness, again for a $25,000 tag at Parx. He finished eighth in the Great White Way division of the New York Stallion Stakes at Aqueduct to end his juvenile season.
The King Cheek won an open optional going 7 furlongs at Parx Jan. 4 to open his 3-year-old season. Ness sent him to Aqueduct for his next two starts – a second in a state-bred optional Feb. 21 before another drubbing in stakes company in the Damon Runyon March 14.
The second foal out of the $27,185-earner and winner Selfie, The King Cheek was originally sold as a weanling for $10,000 to Silver Oaks at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale. He then reported sold for $4,500 at the OBS October yearling sale in 2019 before being an RNA for $14,000 at last year’s OBS July sale of 2-year-olds in training.
Patricia Clark purchased Selfie in foal to Mizzen Mast for $14,000 at the 2016 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Selfie produced The King Cheek two years later and the gelding became the latest stakes winner for his former leading New York-based freshman sire who started his career at Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson.
Pucker Ridge Farm also bred Selfie’s last two foals – an unnamed 2-year-old New York bred colt by Commissioner and a yearling cold by Redesdale foaled April 24, 2020. Selfie was bred back to Destin in 2020.
