Acclamation’s Kings River Knight Earns Third Straight Crystal Water S. Victory

ARCADIA, CA (May 24, 2025)— Kings River Knight did it again Saturday at Santa Anita. For the third year in a row, the now 7-year-old gelding by Acclamation earned a dominant front-running victory in the $100,000 Crystal Water Stakes for horses bred or sired in California going one mile on turf.

Jockey Juan Hernandez was aboard for both of Kings River Knight’s previous Crystal Water wins and was again in the irons on Saturday. Sent off the 2-5 favorite, Kings River Knight broke best of all in a field of seven, set fractions of 23.69, 47.78 and 1:11.01 and then drew off in the stretch to score by 3 ½ lengths. Takes Three (17-1), ridden by Kazushi Kimura, rallied to be second by a nose over second-choice Coalinga Road (7-1).

Trained by John Sadler, Kings River Knight won in a time of 1:34.84.

“John told me that this horse likes to run on the lead and the horse was ready, just ride him with confidence,” Hernandez said. “All the praise goes to my horse because, out of the gate, he broke in front. I just let him be happy there. He was traveling really, really well. I was just waiting to hit the quarter pole and finally when I hit the quarter pole, I asked him to pick it up and he took off to the wire and won easily. It looks like he’s back again.”

In his prior start March 30, Kings River Knight returned from a 10-month layoff and finished off the board in the Sensational Star Stakes for statebreds sprinting about 6 ½ furlongs on the hillside turf course.

“Last time that was 6 ½ down the hill and he hadn’t run in a while,” Hernandez said. “I think he just needed that race for this one…we got beat, but I still liked his race. He only got beat by a couple of lengths and that race helped him for this race to be ready.”

This was the seventh overall stakes win for Kings River Knight and upped his record to 18: 11-5-0 with $710,330 in earnings. Kings River Knight was bred by Old English Rancho and is campaigned by Integrity Thoroughbred Racing, The Ellwood Johnston Family Trust and Kenneth A. Tevelde.

“We loved it, to see him out here run like a 1-9 shot should, that’s great,” Leonard Miranda of Integrity Thoroughbreds.”We were excited. That was the pressure, but it was relieved immediately down the stretch. You know you just think of it. I’m just happy to be a part of it, with the Johnstons who bred this horse and of course Ken. We look back and we started kind of late. We have to thank Andy Mathis, he got the horse up and training and got him pointed to the right direction. We had the opportunity to come here so you go from one great trainer to another great trainer and you couldn’t be more thankful. We are just reaping the benefits. We are so blessed.”

“The late great Mel Stute said, ‘Any horse that wins more than he loses is a really good horse.’ And he fits that,” Sadler said. “He’s a wonderful horse and he’s been good for a long time. Hopefully, we have a couple more good years with him. He’s just a hard trying horse and it’s easy to love him.”