In paying tribute to his former unconquerable stablemate She’s A Maneater, King Arthur , under another masterful ride from jockey Anthony Thomas, proved too strong for rivals in the $1.5-million Open Allowance/Graded Stakes feature event named in the legend’s honour at Caymanas Park yesterday.

The four-year-old bay gelding King Arthur, toting top weight of 57.0kgs (126 lb), defeated Sentient (Shane Ellis) and Double Crown (Jordan Barrett) by three parts of a length in a time of 1:38.0 over one mile (1,600m).

Thomas held the Jason DaCosta-conditioned King Arthur in third place, relaxing some 10 lengths behind Awesome Treasure (Dane Dawkins) and Double Crown (Jordan Barrett) down the backstretch.

King Arthur maintained his steady gallop behind the leaders before making his move approaching the distance when he challenged for the lead.

With three horses spread across the race track in deep stretch, King Arthur responded well to Thomas’s urgings and powered himself to the front inside the final furlong and went on to win quite strong in the end.

The brilliant She’s A Maneater was trained by DaCosta’s late father Wayne.

Meanwhile, two-time champion trainer Anthony Nunes should not be left out of the celebration party as he saddled three winners on the 11-race card.

Nunes was successful with two-year-old Golden Wattle (Linton Steadman) in the second race, Devine Lexie (Kiaman McGregor) in the third race, and King’s Magician in the 11th and final event, with Steadman completing a double.

Also riding two winners was Dane Dawkins, who won aboard Queen T in the first race for trainer Patrick Lynch and Gambler in the eighth race for trainer Michael Marlowe.

Racing continues on Wednesday.

— Ruddy Allen