Breaking smoothly from the number four post position under Joel Rosario, Knicks Go sped to his fourth consecutive victory for trainer Brad Cox – and his richest to date – taking the Grade 1, $3-million Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Saturday at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.
Owned by the Korea Racing Authority, the Maryland-bred 5-year-old by Paynter won the Pegasus in wire-to-wire fashion, setting fractions of :22.90, :46.16, 1:09.91 and 1:34.82 en route to a final clocking of 1:47.89 for 1 1/8 miles on a fast track. He paid $4.60 as the 6-5 favorite.
Jesus' Team, who chased Knicks Go while second to him in the G1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland on Nov. 7, finished second again under Irad Ortiz Jr. Independence Hall finished third, with Sleepy Eyes Todd fourth and Code of Honor fifth in the field 12.
This was the fifth running of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational, which was renamed from the G1 Donn Handicap in 2017 when Bob Baffert-trained Arrogate defeated Shaman Ghost to earn the winner's share of a $12-million purse that was put up by the owners of each horse competing. Subsequent winners were Steve Asmussen-trained Gun Runner in 2018 when the purse was increased to $16 million; Michael McCarthy-trained City of Light in 2019, when the purse was $9 million; and Mucho Gusto, also trained by Baffert, in 2020, when the purse was $2,944,600.
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