Derby winner of last year King Arthur showed the versatility of his racing armoury during his performance when winning the one-mile (1,600 metres) Jamaica Racing Commission World Vet Day Trophy at Caymanas Park, on Saturday, April 24.

This latest win by King Arthur at one mile (8 furlongs) means that he has now won at distances ranging from five furlongs straight to 12 furlongs.

King Arthur on Saturday raced behind the pacesetter Jamai Raja (Romario Spencer) with ease and could have gone by whenever he liked. With about three furlongs left in the contest, King Arthur, ridden by Anthony Thomas for trainer Jason DaCosta, did just that and from then, there was little doubt that he would have taken home the trophy for his connections.

King Arthur won by 3 3/4 lengths as the 1/5 favourite from the 9/2 shot Marquesas, ridden by Reyan Lewis, in a time of 1:39.3 with fractions of 23.2, 46.1, 1:11.2 in the field of nine. El Professor, a 19/1 chance, the mount of Christopher Mamdeen, finished a neck away in the third slot.

“I am pleased with the performance of King Arthur who is currently enjoying good form and critically he has remained sound and healthy.

“It is no easy task to jump from a five-furlong straight race to a mile event. This is never easy especially coming off a lay-off, but he did what he had to do and he ( King Arthur) should continue to grow from strength to strength as he develops with time and care.

” King Arthur is now in the Open Allowance grade and we will sit down and choose his races carefully going forward,” DaCosta said in his post-race interview.