Knicks Go Wins Dirt Mile in Track Record Time
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Knicks Go wins the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland
Whether running in an allowance race or a top-tier stakes race at Keeneland, Korea Racing Authority's Knicks Go keeps producing track records.
In winning Nov. 7 at the Lexington oval in the $1 million Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) over Jesus' Team and Sharp Samurai, the 4-year-old Paynter colt sizzled a mile in a track-record 1:33.85. This followed a 10 1/4-length third-level allowance optional claiming victory at the track last month when he was timed in 1:40.79 for 1 1/16 miles.
Though the Keeneland main track played quickly Saturday, Knicks Go's performance in the Dirt Mile was eye-catching all the same. The 9-5 favorite left the gate sharply under Joel Rosario, and lowered the prior track mark of 1:34.54 established by Liam's Map in winning the Dirt Mile in 2015.
Throwing down scintillating fractions of :21.98, :44.40, and 1:08.25, no rival could keep up for the whole race. Second favorite Complexity tried for a little while, racing within a length of him for six furlongs, but then grew tired, fading to fourth.
This paved the way for late-running Jesus' Team to rally for the place, nipping Sharp Samurai, who settled for the show after he was checked in a 12-horse scramble into the first turn under Irad Oritz Jr.
"I think that may have potentially cost him second. You spend quite a bit of energy and are also then farther back," said his trainer, Mark Glatt. "He just ran into a buzz saw after that with Knicks Go."
Another Cox trainee, Owendale, ran fifth.
Knicks Go ($5.60) was bet down to 9-5 favoritism after his blowout local win last month and the earlier success of Brad Cox trained runners during the two-day Breeders' Cup.
Knicks Go and Joel Rosario head to the winner's circle
Rosario, who notched his second Breeders' Cup victory of 2020 after winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) Nov. 6 with Vequist, said Knicks Go runs fast splits effortlessly.
"It looked like he was going easy. I didn't know how fast he was going," said Rosario, now with 12 Breeders' Cup wins.
Knicks Go gave Cox his third Breeders' Cup victory this year and sixth overall, all since 2018. He won the Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T) with Aunt Pearl and the TVG Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare (G1) with Essential Quality.
Knicks Go will rank among the trainer's many success stories after going 3-for-3 thus far in 2020. Winner of the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) in 2018 with prior trainer Ben Colebrook, the colt went through a 10-race losing streak before joining Cox over the winter.
He took an allowance optional claiming race at Oaklawn Park in February before sidelined with bone chips. He then didn't race until last month.
Rosario enjoys the moment aboard Knicks Go
"This was never something that we even had on our target when we ran this horse a month ago or five weeks ago at Keeneland. That was just a preparation race" for possibly this fall's Clark Stakes presented by Norton Healthcare (G1) or Cigar Mile Handicap (G1), Cox said.
Cox said he felt the conditions of the Dirt Mile at Keeneland played to his trainee's strengths. Due to the 1 1/16-mile main track circumstance at Keeneland, the race has a short run to the first of two turns and ends at what would normally be the sixteenth pole.
"He's a very nice horse and (we're) very proud of what he was able to step up and do today," Cox said.
Bred by Angie Moore out of the Outflanker mare Kosmo's Buddy, Knicks Go was an $87,000 purchase from the Woods Edge Farm consignment by Korea Racing Authority at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He sold for $40,000 as a weanling to Northface Bloodstock through Bill Reightler's consignment to the 2016 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.
He is the richest of four foals to race out of his dam. Besides Knicks Go, she has produced two other winners.
The goal when purchasing Knicks Go as a young horse was to potentially develop him into a stallion, said Jun Park, a representative with the KRA. The colt's name is not a reference to the New York Knicks basketball team, but rather is derived from a KRA nicking analysis system of pedigree crosses.
"We also have a good selection system, which is created by the team at the Korea Racing Authority and that's why we're buying the colts in the United States. And then I believe this victory will make the Korea horse industry more forward, more globalized, and improve the Korean homebred as well."
The connections of Knicks Go enjoy the trophy presentation for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile
This was not Knicks Go's first Breeders' Cup go-around. Two years ago when trained by Colebrook, he ran second in the Juvenile at Churchill Downs behind champion Game Winner . He pressed the leader that day but could not withstand the winner down the long Churchill Downs' stretch.
As high-class as that performance was, most of the colt's better races have come locally, where he is now 3-for-5.
"We know he has a lot of talent and obviously, he loves Keeneland," Park said.
The connections of Knicks Go celebrate in winner's circle