King Cyrus conquers Saratoga maiden by 11 lengths

WinStar Farm's King Cyrus has an ambitious name to live up to, but the Todd

Pletcher juvenile made a sensational start to his career with an 11-length romp

in Saratoga's

3RD

race on Monday.

By Bellamy Road, and out of the Empire Maker mare Queen of Empire, King

Cyrus' name calls to mind the great Persian empire-builder of the sixth century

B.C. The $70,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase is bred to thrive over a

route of ground, but showed effortless cruising speed in this seven-furlong

premiere.

"We felt like he had been training well," Pletcher said. "We originally put

him in a six-furlong race on Saturday; we thought seven furlongs might be better

for him.

"He's an obvious two-turn kind of horse -- bred that way, looks that way,

trains that way. We were happy with the way he came into the race, but didn't

really expect him to blow them away like that."

Sent off as the 2-1 second choice with Javier Castellano, King Cyrus broke on

top with his natural quickness, then displayed professionalism to concede the

early lead and tracked kindly in third. Kingofgoldstreet moved through along the

inside to take up the running, pressed by 8-5 favorite Tightly Bridled through

an opening quarter in :23 1/5 on the fast track.