Knicks Go to Stand at Taylor Made After Racing Career

Knicks Go  , a four-time grade 1 winner and a dominating victor of the 2020 Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and 2018 Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1), will retire to Taylor Made Stallions at the conclusion of his racing career, the Nicholasville, Ky., farm announced Oct. 18.

Campaigned by Korea Racing Authority, Knicks Go is currently the top-ranked older horse on the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Thoroughbred Poll as he prepares for his next start in the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar Nov. 6. A stud fee will be announced after the Breeders' Cup.

"The KRA's goal was to buy and race in the U.S. with an eye toward developing stallions," said Jun Park, racing manager for the KRA's United States stable. "As his name suggests, Knicks Go is a horse that was selected by a genome selection program called K-Nicks, which was designed to help select optimally excellent racehorses and stallions. To have done this for such a short time and to already have a multiple grade 1 winner like Knicks Go is very gratifying. We are excited to stand him at Taylor Made, and we look forward to his next career as a stallion."

An earner of $5,553,135 thus far in his racing career, the 5-year-old son of leading fifth-crop sire Paynter   is a grade 1 winner from eight to nine furlongs and has run triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures of 113, 111, 108 (twice), 107, and 104, all in top company.

Knicks Go was bred in Maryland by Angie Moore out of the multiple stakes winner Kosmo's Buddy , a daughter of Outflanker  and earner of nearly $300,000. Kosmo's Buddy is out of the stakes-placed Allen's Prospect winner Vaulted , a daughter of stakes winner Aube d'Or who is a half sister to grade 1 winner Countus In and multiple stakes winner Tulindas. Kosmo's Buddy excelled as a turf sprinter, while Vaulted was a multiple winner and stakes-placed at 1 1/8 miles.

With his blend of speed and stamina, Knicks Go has recorded two track records at Keeneland, one of them in winning last year's Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile where he sizzled a mile in 1:33.85. He also established a course standard in his prep for the Dirt Mile, winning an allowance optional claiming race at 1 1/16 miles by 10 1/4 lengths in a brisk 1:40.79. 

While Knicks Go is a leader in the handicap division, he was also precocious. He broke his maiden on debut in July of his 2-year-old season, winning wire-to-wire by 3 1/2 lengths at Ellis Park. Knicks Go went on to capture that year's Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, running his rivals off their feet with a 5 1/2-length romp. He also finished second to eventual champion Game Winner   in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).

Heading into this year's Breeders' Cup, Knicks Go has been in a class by himself. He proved uncatchable in winning the historic Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course in August by 4 1/2 lengths, defeating grade 1 winners Maxfield  and Silver State   with a 111 Beyer. The gray/roan crushed his rivals by 10 1/4 lengths in his prior start, taking the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (G3) in July, earning a career-best 113 Beyer.

In the Lukas Classic (G3) at Churchill Downs Oct. 2, Knicks Go toyed with the competition again, this time winning by four lengths geared down at the wire in his final prep for this year's Breeders' Cup Classic. His final time for the 1 1/8 miles was 1:47.85, about a half a second off the 1999 track record set by Victory Gallop.

Among Knicks Go's signature wins was a record-setting triumph in last year's Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland. With regular rider Joel Rosario aboard, Knicks Go assumed his customary position at the head of the field shortly after the break. He blitzed through fractions of :21.98, :44.40, and 1:08.25 before reporting home a facile winner in track-record time with a Beyer of 108. The final clocking lowered Liam's Map  's previous record of 1:34.54 set when winning the 2015 Dirt Mile.

"He really is what a horse is supposed to be," trainer Brad Cox said of Knicks Go. "They are supposed to get faster and stronger as they get older. He's a little bit of a throwback horse as far as accomplishing things early and then still being in training three years later."

Knicks Go's most lucrative victory to date came in this year's $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park. In his seasonal debut and his first start since winning the Dirt Mile, Knicks Go sped to the front at the break of the 1 1/8-mile event and maintained a clear advantage throughout, ultimately scoring by 2 3/4 lengths. The tremendous effort earned a 108 Beyer.

Following the Pegasus win, Cox said, "Great horses do great things, and he just did something great."