King’s Blade Begins With Five-Length Win

Winner of two of three starts in Kentucky, King’s Blade made a successful California debut with a five-length victory over Troyalty in the $79,575 Bolsa Chica Stakes Wednesday at Santa Anita.

Purchased by Tom Gamel and Burt Kinerk after a Dec. 22 allowance victory at Turf Paradise, King’s Blade quickly opened up on his four rivals Wednesday through a 21 2/5-second first quarter, was given a breather by Eddie Delahoussaye, then sprinted away to win in 1:09 1/5 for the six furlongs. He paid $6.20 as the 2-1 second choice.

“I don’t have any Triple Crown aspirations for him right now, although he is nominated to those races,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “But it looks like we’ll have a nice horse to run at least one turn around here for a while anyway. I would guess at this point we have a sprinter, but who knows if we wouldn’t change down the road. It’s too early to say.”

Gracious Ghost, the 6-5 favorite, lacked room early in the stretch, then faltered and wound up last.