King’s River posts Md. Million Turf shocker
Gives trainer Magana first stakes win
Frank Vespe
October 24, 2026
Trainer Jose Magana picked a good – if surprising – time to log his first career stakes win, as his King’s River held on in a frantic finish to win the $125,000 Maryland Million Turf by a head Saturday at Laurel Park.
King’s River, the second-longest shot on the board, paid $100.60 to win, the biggest-priced winner on a day when upsets were more the rule than the exception.
“Celebrate? I need a drink right now,” Magana joked after the race.
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“I started asking him from the three-eighths pole and tried not to get him stopped, not get in traffic,” said winning rider Kevin Gomez. “We luckily had a clean trip, and it worked out.”
King’s River, a five-year-old Irish War Cry gelding, won for the eighth time in 40 career starts and moved over $402,000 in earnings. Four of those wins have come since Magana claimed King’s River for just $7,500 on behalf of Pepe Stable and J L M Jacona Stable in March 2025.
“He was a little on the wacky side [when we claimed him],” Magana said. “But he’s a cool horse to be around now. He’s just mellow.”
After a productive 2025 that saw King’s River win three times for his new connections, 2026 had been more checkered: just three starts and no in-the-money finishes, including a distant sixth-place finish last out in an off-the-turf allowance earlier this month at Laurel.
But today, in a race that seemed to run through the graded stakes-placed multiple stakes winner Thundering, King’s River was ready to roll.
Gomez had him relaxed towards the rear of the field for a big chunk of the 1 1/8-mile test on firm turf: 10th and 8 ½ lengths from leader Wicked Prankster after a half-mile in 47.76 seconds and still in eighth after three quarters in 1:12.67.
Gomez kept his mount outside and out of the trouble that found some other rivals and allowed him to stoke up his late run. He went clear in mid-stretch but then had to hold off the late run of Alakan by a head, while Thundering was a troubled but non-threatening third two lengths farther back. Wicked Prankster hung on stubbornly until finally fading to sixth in the final furlong.
“I got the instructions from the guys: they told me to break, let him settle, not send him out of the gate,” Gomez said. “Break and, like I said, let him settle and see where he’s at, where he’s comfortable.”
“Our expectation was just to make that late run,” Magana said. “You know, we were hoping to get the fast pace on the front and make the late run. It worked out.”
Gomez said he’d ridden King’s River one morning last week, reviewed the past performances, and watched his replays.
“Just by watching the replays and getting on him one morning last week, that helped me a lot,” the rider said.
Apparently so, and now King’s River, like his trainer, can call himself a stakes winner.
“We’ve been knocking on the door a couple of Maryland Millions,” Magana said. “I think we were second last year [in a Maryland Million starter handicap], and he made a good run last year. We had little problems with him [earlier this year], but we managed to get him 100%. Now he wins the race.”
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