Orpheus outlasts rivals in King's Plate showdown

SUPER-fit ORPHEUS won his second consecutive race on Wednesday, stalking the leaders before taking charge at the top of the lane in the 1500-metre King' s Plate at Caymanas Park.
Partnered by Shane Ellis for leading trainer Anthony Nunes, ORPHEUS raced as a team with ANOTHER BULLET, tracking LITTLE BIG HORN and ZEPHYR, who set the fractions to the home turn. 
Roused by Ellis, 4-5 favourite ORPHEUS sprinted clear of ANOTHER BULLET entering the straight and stayed in strongly to win by a length and three-quarter ahead of late-closing PERFECT NEIGHBOUR.
SOY EL SENOR, ORPHEUS' stablemate, closed along the rail close home to claim third ahead of a weakening ANOTHER BULLET, who chased the winner to almost the last half-furlong.
ORPHEUS clocked 1:32.0 for the distance, his first victory in open allowance, leaving the 2013 Derby awardee needing one more victory in the class to graduate to grade one.
The day's longshot was DETERMINE KING, who landed the seventh race at odds of 14-1, resulting in a Pick-9 carryover of $1.6m, accompanied by a single-winner bonus of $217,052.
The late Pick-4 paid a consolation $43,300, leaving the single-winner bonus untouched at $7m. The Twilight 6 returned $437,066.
Racing continues at Caymanas Park on Saturday.