Bad King, under jockey Christian Cardenas, won the $70,000 First Moonflash Maturity at odds of 21-1 Sunday afternoon at The Downs at Albuquerque.

© Coady Media

By H. David Smith, StallioneSearch

ALBUQUERQUE, NM–SEPTEMBER 14, 2025—Bad King (21-1) broke sharply and never looked back on Sunday afternoon at the Downs at Albuquerque, capturing the $70,000 First Moonflash Maturity for accredited New Mexico-bred 4-year-olds and older going 440 yards.

With a light crosswind of two miles per hour and a fast racing strip, the 4-year-old sorrel gelding stopped the timer in 21.649 seconds, earning a speed index of 87 while securing the winner’s purse of $40,600.

By leading sire Eye Am King and out of the Pappasito mare Start Somethin Bad, Bad King was bred in New Mexico by MJ Farms. He races for Nove Racing LLC, Triple R Racing Stables LLC, Antoinette Gonzales, and Patricio Venzor, is trained by James Gonzales III, and was ridden to victory by jockey Christian Cardenas.

The winning connections of Bad King accept the First Moonflash Maturity stakes trophy at The Downs at Albuquerque. © Coady Media

A $75,000 RNA at the 2025 Heritage Place Winter Mixed Sale, the gelding proved much the best, crossing the wire a neck in front. It was the fifth career win in 16 starts for the graded stakes winner of $381,490. He also won the Pepsi Cola Stakes earlier this year at Sunland Park.

Rc Corona King, a 5-year-old multiple graded stakes winning gelding by Eye Am King out of Classyoddsofdeefirst by Deefirst, finished second after a determined rally.

Bred by Baldemar L. Parra, the New Mexico-bred runner is owned by Jose Riojas, trained by Gerardo Quinonez, and was ridden by Sergio Dominguez. He finished a neck behind the winner and earned $14,000 for his runner-up effort, boosting his earnings to $447,199.

Lookin For Cartel, a 5-year-old bay gelding by multiple stakes sire Big Daddy Cartel out of Jess Look Both Ways by Feature Mr Jess, ran a solid race to secure third, finishing 1¼ lengths behind the winner.

Bred by Denton Crozier, he is owned by Omar Najar, trained by Adrian Alvarez, and guided by jockey Emilio Tapia. His efforts were worth $7,000 to his connections. The multiple graded stakes-placed gelding has earned nearly $150,000.

Pari-mutuel payoffs returned $42.20 to win, $14.00 to place, and $7.20 to show on Bad King. Rc Corona King paid $6.40 to place and $5.00 to show, while Lookin for Cartel returned $5.20 to show.

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