By My Standards Could Join Knicks Go in Sexton Mile

Knicks Go  is not the only multi-millionaire pointed to the $400,000 Steve Sexton Mile Stakes (G3) at Lone Star Park May 31.

Trainer Bret Calhoun said May 7 that Allied Racing Stable and Spendthrift Farm's By My Standards is aimed for the two-turn dirt race, the richest stakes on the Texas track's summer racing calendar. By My Standards, a winner of more than $2 million, breezed a half-mile in :49 4/5 May 6 at Churchill Downs, his first work since winning the Oaklawn Mile Stakes April 10 in Arkansas.

"I'd rather not run against him at a flat mile," Calhoun said of Knicks Go. "We don't have a lot of options. I'd like to get him as good as possible to the Whitney."

Knicks Go to Return in Steve Sexton Mile at Lone Star

The Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 7 is a $1 million, "Win and You're In" qualifier toward the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). The Whitney is a summer target for By My Standards, as it was in 2020 when he was second to Improbable  .

In weighing race options later this month, Calhoun said the Steve Sexton Mile is preferred over the $150,000, 1 1/8-mile Blame Stakes May 29 at Churchill, noting horses can race on Lasix in the Steve Sexton Mile. The medication, a diuretic used to control respiratory bleeding in horses, is widely prohibited in the stakes races in Kentucky, California, New York Racing Association tracks, and a few other jurisdictions in a step toward eliminating race day medication. 

"I don't have an issue, but I don't want to have an issue," Calhoun said of bleeding.

A 5-year-old son of Goldencents  , By My Standards is a four-time grade 2 winner. A grade 1 victory is sought before his retirement to stud.

Last year, By My Standards was second in the Stephen Foster Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs late in the spring meet. That race is renewed June 26 at Churchill Downs, carrying a $600,000 purse and also acting as an automatic qualifier to the Classic. 

By My Standards isn't the only talented older horse in Calhoun's Churchill Downs stable. He said Allied Racing Stable's Mr. Big News , third behind Authentic   and Tiz the Law   in the 2020 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) arrived back in his barn Thursday. He is unraced since a seventh-place finish in last year's Preakness Stakes (G1) Oct. 3.

"He didn't run any good in the Preakness, so we turned him out," Calhoun said. "He's been down in Florida doing some light training—swimming, jogging, light galloping."

Mr. Big News won the Oaklawn Stakes last year, though his best performance was as a 46-1 longshot in the Derby, going from ninth to third on the second turn before evening out down the stretch.

"He gave a cheap thrill for a second," Calhoun recalled.