Knicks Go Settles in for Taylor Made Layover

Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner Knicks Go   arrived Nov. 11 at Taylor Made Farm outside Lexington for a brief layover before returning to trainer Brad Cox's barn to prepare for the final race of his career.

Fresh off his dazzling Nov. 6 triumph at the World Championships, the striking gray son of Paynter   will be on display for breeders for about a week. His curtain call is expected to come with a title defense in the Jan. 29 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park.

"We've been watching Knicks Go for quite some time," said Ben Taylor, vice president of Taylor Made Stallions. "After he just kept winning races and succeeding, our interest grew and grew, and we feel very fortunate to have him."

Knicks Go, who will stand the 2022 season at Taylor Made for an advertised fee of $30,000 stands and nurses, is joined as a new recruit on the Taylor Made roster by incoming multiple grade 2 winner Tacitus  , who retires with earnings of more than $3.7 million. With top wins in the 2020 Suburban Stakes (G2) and the 2019 Wood Memorial Presented by NYRA Bets (G2) and Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2) for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, the Juddmonte homebred, a son of Tapit   out of champion Close Hatches , will stand for $10,000 stands and nurses.  

"They're two quality horses, I think, that are priced right," Taylor said. "Tacitus was a horse that was a very good racehorse. He's from an unbelievable pedigree and (with) just a few lengths difference here and there in his race record, you'd be looking at a horse that would be standing for $50,000, not $10,000. I think breeders see that value and they seem to be very interested in breeding to him, so I think he's going to be accepted."

Knicks Go, bred in Maryland by Angie Moore out of the gritty stakes-winning Outflanker  mare Kosmo's Buddy , won the 2018 Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) at 2 and the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at 4 and Pegasus World Cup earlier this year at 5. This year he also took the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (G3) at Prairie Meadows, the Whitney Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, the Lukas Classic Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs, and the Breeders' Cup Classic over Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) winner Medina Spirit  at Del Mar. He was also runner-up to champion Game Winner   in the 2018 Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Churchill. 

"He's phenomenal. Very rarely do you see a horse like him," Taylor said.