IN a dramatic turnaround of form, King Arthur, under strong handling from jockey Omar Walker, produced an electrifying run in deep stretch to upset rivals in the Lady Geeta Trophy feature race at Caymanas Park on Saturday.

King Arthur, owned by Carlton Watson and trained by Jason DaCosta, had failed on numerous occasions to ignite any spark since winning an Open Allowance on September 25 of last year, but made yesterday’s feature event look very easy when putting away rivals by 4 ½ lengths.

A former Jamaica Derby winner King Arthur, who was sent off at odds of 9-1 in the small field of six runners, clocked a very impressive time of 1:12.1 for the three-year-old and upward Open Allowance/Graded Stakes contest over six furlongs (1,200m).

Based on his usual running style, King Arthur would have preferred it longer, but the five-year-old bay gelding’s move was surprisingly early in the race when he settled in second place behind stablemate Lure of Lucy (Jordan Barrett) down the backstretch.

King Arthur lost further ground to fourth place when Father Patrick surrounded rivals to take up the lead from Lure of Lucy, with Duke (Robert Halledeen) getting into the action navigating the half-mile turn.

Duke hit the front full of running at the top of the straight but Walker produced his mount on the inside rails in deep stretch as King Arthur exploded like cannon ball on fire and powered away from rivals to register his ninth career win from 27 starts, with lifetime earnings over $10 million.

Second went to Duke, while Lure of Lucy held on to third place.

It was the second winner on the 11-race card for DaCosta. The leading trainer had earlier saddled Billy Whizz (Anthony Thomas) in the eighth race — an Overnight Allowance event for three-year-olds and upward over nine furlongs (1,800m).

Other winners of two races were trainer Dennis Pryce and jockey Tevin Foster. Pryce saddled Pure Heart (Youville Pinnock) in the fifth race and Unruly Dude (Robert Halledeen) in the ninth race. Both Pure Heart and Unruly Dude are owned by Busy Racing Stables. Foster, for his part, won aboard Commissioner in the first race for trainer Lincoln Lungs and Tequila Blue for trainer Errol Subratie in the sixth race.

Racing continues next weekend with races on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.