Tag: breeders’ cup classic

Whitney Win Vaults Knicks Go To Top Of Breeders’ Cup Classic Rankings

Korea Racing Authority's 5-year-old Knicks Go, dominant winner of last Saturday's Whitney (G1) at Saratoga, has vaulted to No. 1 in the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings, a weekly poll of the top 10 horses in contention for the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1). This year's Longines Breeders' Cup Classic will be run at Del Mar racetrack in Del Mar, California, on Nov. 6 as the final race of the 38th Breeders' Cup World Championships.

Knicks Go, trained by Brad Cox, rose from fourth place to the top of the Classic Rankings, receiving 314 votes. Knicks Go led the 1 1/8-mile Whitney from start to finish, winning by 4 ½ lengths over Maxfield, who had been the top-rated horse in the poll for the first six weeks. Knicks Go has won three of five starts this year, which includes the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) at Gulfstream Park in January and the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (G3) in July. Last year, Knicks Go won the Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Keeneland.

Godolphin's 3-year-old Essential Quality, also trained by Cox, stayed in second place this week with 276 votes. Essential Quality, last year's TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner, won the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) at Saratoga and the Belmont Stakes (G1) in his last two starts. Godolphin's 4-year-old Maxfield dropped from first to third place this week with 269 votes. Trained by Brendan Walsh, Maxfield has won three races in 2021, including the Stephen Foster Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs, in which he earned an automatic berth into the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic.

Boat Racing, Gainesway Stable, Roadrunner Racing, and William Strauss's 3-year-old Hot Rod Charlie, trained by Doug O'Neill, dropped one position to fourth place with 202 votes.

Juddmonte's 3-year-old Mandaloun, winner of the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) on July 17, remained in fifth place with 127 votes. Also trained by Cox, Mandaloun has been taken out of training for the remainder of the year due to a sore foot.

St. George Stable's 5-year-old mare Letruska rose one spot to sixth place with 96 votes. Trained by Fausto Gutierrez, Letruska won the Ogden Phipps (G1) at Belmont Park and the Fleur de Lis Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs in her last two starts.

Winchell Thoroughbreds and Willis Horton Racing's 4-year-old Silver State dropped one spot to seventh place with 95 votes. Trained by Steve Asmussen, Silver State finished third in the Whitney, suffering his first defeat of the year after four wins.

CRK Stable's 4-year-old Express Train, winner of the San Diego Handicap (G2) at Del Mar, remained in eighth place with 85 votes.

George E. Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbreds Corp.'s 4-year-old Max Player, winner of Belmont's Suburban (G2), is in ninth place. Also trained by Asmussen, Max Player has 70 votes.

Wertheimer and Frere's Happy Saver and Fox Hill Farms and Siena Farm's Royal Ship (BRZ) are tied in 10th place with 53 votes apiece. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Happy Saver lost his first race in six starts when he finished third in the Suburban. Royal Ship won the Californian Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita in April and was recently third in the San Diego Handicap for trainer Richard Mandella.

Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings – Aug. 10, 2021*

Rank Horse Votes First-Place Votes Previous Week
1 Knicks Go 314 22 4
2 Essential Quality 276 4 2
3 Maxfield 269 6 1
4 Hot Rod Charlie 202 1 3
5 Mandaloun 127 0 5
6 Letruska 96 0 7
7 Silver State 95 0 6
8 Express Train 85 0 8
9 Max Player 70 0 9
10 Happy Saver 53 0 9
10 Royal Ship (BRZ) 53 0 0

*Note – The Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings have no bearing on qualification or selection into the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic.

The 2021 Longines Breeders' Cup Classic, which will be run at 1 ¼ miles on the main track, is limited to 14 starters. The race will be broadcast live on NBC.

The Longines Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings are determined by a panel of leading Thoroughbred racing media, horseplayers, and members of the Breeders' Cup Racing Directors/Secretaries Panel. Rankings will be announced each week through Oct. 11. A list of voting members can be found here.

In the Breeders' Cup Classic Rankings, each voter rates horses on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system in descending order.

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Knicks Go Gets 111 Beyer Speed Figure For Whitney Win

Korea Racing Authority's Knicks Go continued to flaunt his winning ways, defeating a compact but talented group of all graded stakes-winning millionaires in Saturday's $1 million Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Trained by Brad Cox, the now four-time Grade 1 winner arrived at the nine-furlong Whitney, which offered a “Win and You're In” berth to the Breeders' Cup Classic, off a sharp in-hand victory in the Grade 3 Cornhusker on July 2 at Prairie Meadows.

Knicks Go captured the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in November at Keeneland and the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup in January at Gulfstream Park.

Piloted by Joel Rosario on Saturday, Knicks Go led the field at every point of call and drew away in the stretch to a 4 ½-length win, garnering a 111 Beyer Speed Figure.

Cox said he has not yet made plans for the next start for his talented son of Paynter, but he would like to race him once before the $6 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic on November 6 at Del Mar.

“We'll let the dust settle, but my thoughts would be to give him a race five to six weeks out [from the Breeders' Cup Classic],” Cox said. “I haven't really dug into it yet, the biggest thing is how he came out of yesterday's race. It would be nice to get a race into him between now and then, but where that might be I don't know.

“I was really pleased with how he looked this morning,” Cox added. “He ate up well, so everything is really positive.”

Knicks Go made his first start for Cox in February 2020 with an allowance optional claiming triumph at Oaklawn Park. Following an eight-month hiatus, Knicks Go burst back onto the scene with a Keeneland allowance optional claiming score ahead of a victory in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at the Lexington oval.

Cox said Knicks Go has taken big leaps forward in his 2021 campaign.

“He was a very good horse last year and he's a better horse now,” Cox said. “Last year, he was able to win the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile against a great group of horses. He had one prep going into that about five weeks out. This year, he's been able to race throughout the winter and rebounded well. He's had three races this summer, so he's been campaigned with more foundation this year, so I just have to think he's a better horse. He's a more accomplished horse and built a nice foundation.”

Boasting a record of 22-8-3-1, Knicks Go has lifetime earnings of $5,368,995.

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No Catching Knicks Go in Whitney

Korea Racing Authority's even-money favorite Knicks Go (Paynter) ran off from a strong field in Saturday's GI Whitney S. to earn an automatic spot in the starting gate for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic and reassert himself at the top of the handicap division. Last seen posting a 10 1/4-length bounce-back victory in the GIII Cornhusker H. July 2 after settling for fourth at odds-on in the GI Metropolitan H., the grey opened up some five or six lengths on his competition down the Saratoga backside through a half in :46.76. His rivals started to inch closer after six furlongs in 1:10.32, with champion filly Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) taking the first run at him, but Knicks Go swatted away that challenge while well out in the track and re-broke near the sixteenth pole to hold sway by 4 1/2 lengths. The streaking pair of Maxfield (Street Sense) and Met Mile hero Silver State (Hard Spun) completed the exacta and trifecta, respectively, while Swiss Skydiver was fourth.

A 70-1 winner of the 2018 GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity as a member of the Ben Colebrook barn, Knicks Go improved signficantly in 2020 after being transferred to Eclipse winner Brad Cox. His perfect three-start campaign was punctuated with a dominant win in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, and he added the lucrative GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. over this nine-furlong distance at Gulfstream in January. He faded to fourth after dueling with fellow American Charlatan (Speightstown) in the $20-million Saudi Cup in February, and also weakened surprisingly in the June 5 Met Mile, but earned a career-best 113 Beyer at Prairie Meadows back at nine furlongs.

Saturday, Saratoga
WHITNEY S.-GI, $925,000, Saratoga, 8-7, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:47.70, ft.
1–KNICKS GO, 124, h, 5, by Paynter
                1st Dam: Kosmo's Buddy (MSW, $298,095), by Outflanker
                2nd Dam: Vaulted, by Allen's Prospect
                3rd Dam: Aube d'Or, by Medaille d'Or
($40,000 Wlg '16 KEENOV; $87,000 Ylg '17 KEESEP). O-Korea
Racing Authority; B-Angie Moore (MD); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Joel
Rosario. $535,000. Lifetime Record: 22-8-3-1, $5,368,995.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Werk Nick
Rating: F.
2–Maxfield, 122, c, 4, Street Sense–Velvety, by Bernardini.
O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-Brendan P. Walsh. $185,000.
3–Silver State, 124, c, 4, Hard Spun–Supreme, by Empire
Maker. ($450,000 Ylg '18 KEESEP). O-Winchell Thoroughbreds
LLC and Willis Horton Racing LLC; B-Stonestreet Thoroughbred
Holdings LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. $100,000.
Margins: 4HF, 1 3/4, 4HF. Odds: 1.05, 2.10, 5.60.
Also Ran: Swiss Skydiver, By My Standards. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

“I was challenged a little bit going to the first turn, but [Swiss Skydiver] sent a little bit and I was just going to see what they were going to do and take it from there,” winning rider Joel Rosario said of his tactics. “I was a half-length in front going into the turn and I just decided to keep him going forward.

“The way he was moving he just skipped to the last quarter-pole. He loved what he was doing. He was very relaxed and going forward. I was really happy with the way he was going turning for home.”

Cox, who trains two other major Breeders' Cup Classic contenders in sophomores Essential Quality (Tapit) and Mandaloun (Into Mischief), said, “He ran huge. There's always a concern when you ship to Saratoga and this can be a demanding surface. I thought the race at Prairie Meadows really tuned him up well. He was well within himself and that was his big work for this race five weeks ago. He had three maintenance works at Ellis and he came in here a fresh and happy horse, ready to go.

“Maybe down the lane at the sixteenth pole I thought, 'Oh wow'. He's going to win this thing', and at that point I was thinking, 'What a horse. What a performance.' For him to go forty-six and change and spread out down the backside and get away from them and just kick on at the eighth pole and have to fight off some really, really good challengers. This was an incredibly deep group of horses and I'm very proud of the effort of my horse today.”

As for a path going forward, Cox said, “He's a very sound horse and he's happy. We wouldn't be here if he wasn't. We'll come up with a plan somehow. We'll just let the dust settle but it will probably be the Classic.”

Maxfield, a fellow Breeders' Futurity winner, was seven-for-eight coming into the Whitney, having most recently put GII Alysheba S. and GII Stephen Foster S. wins back to back.

“He ran his race. No excuse, really,” said his trainer Brendan Walsh. “I think the best horse won on the day. [Jockey] Jose [Ortiz] said he got to a point where he thought he was going to get him, but [Knicks Go] didn't stop and didn't come back to him. But he ran well. Second is no disgrace. We're always proud of this horse and there will be other days.”

Silver State had won six in a row coming into Saturday, including the GII Oaklawn H. two back going this distance.

“I had the best trip,” said that one's rider Ricardo Santana, Jr. “The winner was much the best. We were fortunate to be third; my horse ran his race. [Trainer] Steve [Asmussen] is happy, the owner is happy, and I'm happy, and that is the most important thing.”

Pedigree Notes:

Knicks Go stands alone as the only Grade I winner to date for Paynter, who has four graded winners among his 18 black-type winners. The breeding of Knicks Go has been well-documented, with his dam's last two matings being significantly upgraded: Kosmo's Buddy has a yearling filly by Justify and a filly by Ghostzapper of this year. Ghostzapper, like Paynter, is a son of Awesome Again.

Knicks Go, the fifth Maryland-bred generation of his family, is one of 10 stakes winners out of daughters of the Danzig sire Outflanker. The Moore family's Green Mount Farm claimed the two-time stakes winner Kosmo's Buddy for $40,000 in her penultimate career start at Monmouth in 2010. She RNA'd for $195,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale.

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Knicks Go Meets Maxfield in Star-Studded Whitney

For a race that offers just a five-horse field, Saturday's GI Whitney S. at Saratoga will nevertheless feature plenty of intrigue, as two of the handicap division's top stars will meet the one-two finishers from the GI Metropolitan H. and a certain champion filly whose trainer called an audible to enter her in the meet centerpiece for older horses, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic.

Given the morning-line at 6-5 is the Korea Racing Authority's enigmatic star speedball Knicks Go (Paynter). A shocking winner of the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at 70-1 for Ben Colebrook in 2018, the gray failed to find the mark in his next 10 tries before being reborn when switching to Brad Cox's barn. Winning a pair of allowance/optional claiming events by a combined 17 3/4 lengths, Knicks Go survived a sizzling pace and kicked clear to a 3 1/2-length conquest of the GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile last fall at Keeneland and followed that up with a frontrunning score in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S.

It's been up-and-down in three starts since, however, as he retreated to a well-beaten fourth in the G1 Saudi Cup and filled the same slot with no visible excuse as a 4-5 chalk in the Met Mile. Shipping in to Iowa for the GIII Cornhusker H. July 2 at Prairie Meadows, however, he was back to the old Knicks Go, cruising to a devastating 10 1/4-length romp with a career-high 113 Beyer. In a short field with no definite other speed signed on, the 5-year-old figures to get the right setup in this nine-furlong test.

“He'll break running. We'll see how far he can take himself around there, hopefully the whole way,” Cox told the NYRA notes team. “He's set up for a big effort. He's been working really well at Ellis. [The Cornhusker] gave us the confidence to try the Whitney. It solidified that the horse needs two turns. We're excited about getting him back in the Grade I ranks going around two turns.”

Likely to be a close second choice is Godolphin's once-beaten sensation Maxfield (Street Sense), who tries for his first Grade I win since his juvenile season. He stamped himself as a potential championship contender when romping by 5 1/2 lengths from well back in the Breeders' Futurity, but a series of setbacks forced him to miss the Breeders' Cup and, after returning for a score in the GIII Matt Winn S. last May, eventually the Triple Crown. The imposing dark bay picked up where he left off with a 3 1/4-length success in the Tenacious S. last December at Fair Grounds, but suffered his first defeat when third at 11-10 in the GI Santa Anita H. Mar. 6. Since then, he notched open-length victories in the GIII Alysheba S. and GII Stephen Foster S. at Churchill to run his impressive career record to 7-for-8.

“He's a horse that even still is lightly raced. We were always on the back foot with him,” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “He ran twice as a 2-year-old, and we've always been battling a little inexperience or a lack of seasoning. But ever since we ran him in California and his couple runs since, he's getting to where he's a more seasoned horse and I think that's going to [serve] him well from here on in because he's going to have to be at his best against the horses he's up against. It's a big test for him, so we'll see how he stacks up against them.”

The favorite of the fans–if not the bettors–will be Peter Callahan's Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), entered against the boys after a Saratoga barn quarantine forced trainer Ken McPeek to redirect her from a planned start in last Sunday's GIII Shuvee S. Reeling off a dazzling championship 3-year-old campaign that included 10 races at nine different tracks, five graded stakes triumphs and, of course, the chestnut's seismic defeat of eventual champion Authentic (Into Mischief) in the GI Preakness S. She flattened out to seventh in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff, however, and, after bouncing back with a tally in the GI Beholder Mile S. Mar. 13 at Santa Anita, could not stay with Letruska (Super Saver) or Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) when third, beaten 6 1/2 lengths, in the GI Apple Blossom H. Apr. 17 at Oaklawn.

“She's had a bumpy first half of the year,” McPeek said. “No major issues, but just stuff that kept her from showing off. She had a little hind leg infection that was bothering her. It didn't appear to be a big deal going into Oaklawn, but it might have been why she ran a little flat that day. We're excited about [the Whitney]. The Shuvee would have been ideal, she's been ready to run. I've always thought if you're here, you run where you're at. It's a little bit out of the box, but she's ready.”

There's a realistic possibility that streaking Silver State (Hard Spun) could give trainer Steve Asmussen his record-breaking 9,446th win in Saratoga's second-most prestigious race. Scoring just once–in a dead heat–in his first five career outings, the $450,000 Keeneland September buy has been unstoppable since returning from a seven-month layoff last October, visiting the winner's circle six straight times, including in the Met last out June 5. The runner-up that day, By My Standards (Goldencents), who was also second to eventual champion older dirt male Improbable (City Zip) in last year's Whitney, rounds out the field.

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