Knicks Go a True Horse of the Year

A variety of factors are mixed into a Horse of the Year award.

Knicks Go   checked all of those boxes.

The son of Paynter   won three of America's richest and most prestigious races for older dirt males in 2021: the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1), and the Whitney Stakes (G1).

He traveled overseas to face international competition.

He won five of seven races and earned $7,324,140.

And he embodied the "Year" in Horse of the Year as his illustrious campaign stretched from January to November with bookend major grade 1 wins.

All of that made it no surprise that when the Horse of the Year for 2021 was announced Feb. 10 at the Eclipse Awards ceremonies it was the Korea Racing Authority's Knicks Go who was introduced.

"He was a true Horse of the Year," said trainer Brad Cox, whose horse was also named the champion older dirt male for his 2021 heroics. "It started in January with a win in the Pegasus World Cup and went through November when he won the Breeders' Cup Classic and sealed his championship. It was a tremendous year. It wasn't a half-year campaign or one in which he won the award by default because no one else had strong credentials. There was a great group of horses this year."

In becoming the first Maryland-bred Horse of the Year since the incomparable, invincible, unbeatable Cigar in 1995-96, Knicks Go was at his best at the start of the year and the end of it, winning the Pegasus and then the Classic by decisive and identical 2 3/4-length margins in a remarkable testament to his consistency and durability.

"The Breeders' Cup set him apart from the rest of the horses," Cox said about the now 6-year-old grey horse bred by Angie Moore out of the Outflanker  mare Kosmo's Buddy. "We had (Godolphin's) Essential Quality   in our barn who was in the running for Horse of the Year and he had an incredible year but Knicks Go stepped up and was able to pick off three grade 1's at the highest level."

The Korea Racing Authority, the sole racing authority in Korea, purchased Knicks Go as a yearling with the hope of finding a young horse who could be successful on the racetrack and then help strengthen bloodlines in Korea. They received much more than that. Now retired after a second last month in the Pegasus, Knicks Go recorded two Breeders' Cup wins and earned $9,258,135 in a 25-race, Horse of the Year career that will transcend into his future life as sire in Kentucky for Taylor Made Stallions.

"Brad has done a tremendous job with Knicks Go and Knicks Go has done so much more than we expected in his career. We'd like to have another horse like him, but we know that will be hard to do," said Jun Park, racing manager for the KRA. 

As popular as Knicks Go became in America, he has been a much-needed rock star for racing fans in Korea.

"During the pandemic people in Korea could not race, so being able to follow Knicks Go in America and celebrate his victories it was great news for them and helped to cheer them up," Park said. "They now have a display of his winning trophies there and have extended showing them until March."

It cost the KRA $87,000 to purchase Knicks Go from the Woods Edge Farm consignment at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He was originally bought by Northface Bloodstock for $40,000 from the Bill Reightler consignment at the 2016 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

At 2 for the KRA and trainer Ben Colebrook, Knicks Go staged a 70-1 upset victory in the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) and was second in the Sentient Jets Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) to 2-year-old champion Game Winner  . 

He ended his juvenile season running in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) as the 3-1 favorite, but on a sloppy track he chased from second in the early stages and faded to 11th in a performance that began a tailspin.

As a 3-year-old, he was winless in eight starts while placing only twice, prompting the KRA to move him to Cox's barn for the 2020 season. There he not only returned to top form, but he ultimately reached new and unexpected heights in the sport's premier races.

Two lopsided victories in allowance optional claimers led to an easy win in the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and positioned Knicks Go for his championship season.

He started 2021 in the Jan. 23 Pegasus, where he scored by 2 3/4 lengths as a 6-5 favorite.

Then he traveled to Saudi Arabia for the Saudi Cup and was outrun for the early lead by Charlatan   and finished fourth.

In his return to the United States, Knicks Go was sent off as a 4-5 choice in the Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap (G1) but faded to fourth after setting the early pace.

Cox theorized that the one-turn distance of the Met Mile ill-suited Knicks Go and he was proven right when the multiple grade 1 winner returned to route races and romped by 10 1/4 lengths under regular rider Joel Rosario in the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (G3) and then rolled to a 4 1/2-length score in the prestigious Whitney at Saratoga Race Course over dirt male finalist Maxfield   and Met Mile winner Silver State  .

As a tune-up for the World Championships, Knicks Go breezed to a four-length victory in the Lukas Classic (G3) at Churchill Downs.

That set the stage for the huge year-end showdown in the $5.4 million Classic in which Knicks Go faced the top 3-year-olds, Essential Quality, Medina Spirit , and Hot Rod Charlie , as well as Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) winner Max Player .

Immediately seizing the lead in the 1 1/4-mile test at Del Mar under Rosario, Knicks Go passed his first test at 10 furlongs in brilliant fashion. He never looked back after breaking quickly and setting fast fractions of :45.77 and 1:10.04. Ahead by a length at the quarter pole, he kicked away from his seven rivals and extended the lead in the stretch, triumphing by 2 3/4 lengths over Medina Spirit while crossing the wire in a fleet 1:59.57. 

"I'm extremely pleased with the result today. It had been a rough time when he was 3-years-old, but we overcame the hard year and then turned the corner and then he became a special horse," Jin Woo Lee, senior manager of the KRA, said through an interpreter after the Classic. "And actually winning the Breeders' Cup was the ultimate goal at the beginning of the year and we achieved that win."

His second Breeders' Cup win also gave Knicks Go bookend major wins at the beginning and end of the 2021 season and removed all of the drama surrounding the question of who should be Horse of the Year.

"It was a big, big run and he had a great couple of years for us," Cox said. "What he accomplished in 2021, with the three grade 1 wins and the ability to win two of them in January and November, was unbelievable. He was truly the Horse of the Year."