by Joe Bianca
In the rapidly updating landscape of horse racing, May 8, 2011 seems like an eternity ago. One day after Animal Kingdom's upset win in the GI Kentucky Derby, a 3-year-old Louisiana-bred named String King (Crowned King) debuted going 5 1/2 furlongs at Louisiana Downs. He was dismissed at nearly 53-1 and ran to his odds, finishing ninth. Nobody could have foreseen that this would be one of the only poor performances the gelding would ever produce, and that five years later, he would be a million-dollar earner, running competitively in graded stakes at the age of eight.
String King switched to turf for his next start and won powerfully at 22-1. Now with a lifetime record of 18 wins–including 13 stakes victories–and 10 seconds in 41 starts, he takes his second crack at the GII Mervin H. Muniz, Jr. H. this Saturday after finishing third at 26-1 in the 2013 renewal. He's 15-1 on the morning line and faces several foes who beat him in his last two races, plus substantial new shooters.
Charlie Smith, the owner, breeder and trainer of String King, knows the hurdles, but he also knows never to count out his old war horse.
“I don't think that he's lost a step,” Smith said. “Everybody's forgotten about him except me. I'm not real high on winning the race, but if he does, I won't be surprised.”
The consistency of String King is a marvel. Turf or dirt, on the lead, stalking or closing, he never seems to run a bad race.
“I think it's his constitution,” Smith explained. “You can't get inside a horse's head, we don't know if they like this or they like that, but I think that he just loves to run, loves to be competitive, and he brings it every trip.”
This dependability comes in spite of the gelding's high-strung attitude, which Smith initially tried to curb, but has long since accepted.
“He's real high energy,” Smith said. “When he was 3 years old, I castrated him, thinking that it would calm him down, but that didn't do a bit of good. Even at age eight, it still takes four people to saddle him. Sometimes I think maybe he'll leave a little bit of his race in the paddock, but he's run well all these years just being the way he is.”
String King's attitude also is the reason he has become something of a Louisiana institution, never racing outside of the state's three tracks, each of which he's won at multiple times.
“I've never ventured out of state because of his temperament,” Smith said. “I don't know how he would handle shipping into another state or another racetrack. He may leave his race on the van.”
Smith has just a two-horse stable. His other runner is String King's half-brother, String Attack (Combat Ready), a 7-year-old who is 1-for-34 in his career, making String King even more special to the conditioner.
“Next to my daughter,” Smith said, “he's the best thing that's ever happened to me. I bred him, I own him and I train him and it's unbelievable what he's done for me.”
Does that include the million-plus he's earned?
“I'll tell you one thing,” Smith joked, “he makes it a whole hell of a lot easier to go to the grocery store and not have to choose between which bread is on sale.”
As for how long his home state star will continue to run, Smith says that isn't up to him.
“He'll tell me,” the Louisiana native said. “When it's time, he'll tell me. He may have another year left, he may have two years left. As long as he's competitive and he's trying and enjoying it, then I will keep on with him.”
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