Fit for a King Puts Win Streak on Line

By DEBRA GINSBURG

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (Apr. 26, 2002) -- The late John Mabee and his wife, Betty, won three Eclipse Awards as top breeders, racing most of their top stock.

Occasionally, though, a good one got away. Spirit of Eagles was sold cheaply to German interests as a broodmare prospect. Across the pond she became the dam of Grade I winners Silvano and Sabiango.

Fit for a King is another who blossomed late while in the hands of others. He will be seeking his eighth consecutive victory Sunday in the $175,000 Khaled Stakes, one of the most contentious races on the Gold Rush III card at Hollywood Park.

Fit for a King was sired by the top stallion at the Mabees' Golden Eagle Farm, General Meeting, but Fit for a King was unable to make a go of it in stakes company and was claimed away late in his 3-year-old season.

Fit for a King changed hands a few more times before being claimed by trainer Moon Han and Won Roh and underwent a miraculous transformation in their care. The gelding earned his first black-type when he was third behind Love That Red and Men's Exclusive in the 1999 Answer Do Stakes, but went bad after the 1999 Cal Cup Mile and hit the sidelines until Mar. 3 of last year.

That was the same day Tiznow scored a tour-de-force victory in the Santa Anita Handicap, and Fit for a King captured a $62,500 optional claimer in the second race on the card. He has not lost a race since.

He won an allowance optional claimer April 5 at Santa Anita for his seventh win in a row and pushed his earnings to $531,552. The 9-year-old gelding, out of the Torsion mare Princess Torsion, has 14 wins in 27 starts and is 4-for-5 at Hollywood Park, although the entire seven-race win streak came at distances of either 5 1/2 or 6 1/2 furlongs.

Fit for a King is one of 10 horses entered Sunday that were bred by the Mabees, whose Golden Eagle farm in Ramona has turned out dozens of homebred champions and Grade I winners.

California champions Best Pal, Beau's Eagle, General Challenge and Magical Allure were just a few of the noteworthy runners that were raised in Golden Eagle's green pastures. The Mabees also bred and raised 2001 Grade I winner Victory Ride out of California-bred stakes winner Young Flyer.