Kevin Knuckley | Horse Racing Free Tips

You could be forgiven if the fifth race at Louisiana Downs Monday evening was well off your radar screen, but Don'tcrossthedevil (Cross Traffic)'s 4 1/4-length victory in the one mile and 70 yard allowance completed a long and winding road to redemption for co-owner Kevin Knuckley and trainer and breeder Jaylan Clary. Clary bred the 4-year-old gelding with her late father, trainer Michael Neatherlin, and the bay made his winning debut at Remington Park just weeks after Neatherlin died in the fall of 2021. A second open-lengths victory briefly had the bay on the Derby trail in early 2022, but after a failed stint in California, Don'tcrossthedevil is back in the Midwest with Clary and was back in the winner's circle for the first time since 2021.

“I pinhook mostly and I actually got started with that through Mike Neatherlin,” Knuckley recalled. “He called me in January of 2021 to buy in on three different horses and also asked if I wanted to buy into this 2-year-old that he and his daughter Jaylan bred. One of Mike's favorite expressions was, 'I'm telling you, Kevin. I'm telling you. You got to listen to me. This horse is special.' And I had to agree. We settled on an $80,000 market value and I bought a quarter of him for $20,000.”

It didn't hurt that Knuckley was already familiar with the family. He and his father had raced Don'tcrossthedevil's dam, the stakes-placed The Devil Is Mine (Devil His Due), in their Double Knuck Stables.

“She was a stone-cold runner herself, but she had some issues,” Knuckley said of the mare. “But she's produced some pretty nice babies and this is probably one of the better sires she's been bred to in Cross Traffic.”

The plan was to give Don'tcrossthedevil time to grow up before he made his first start, but the timing of that debut effort was pushed further back than expected.

“He was a big, lanky horse, so he needed to grow into himself a little bit,” Knuckley said. “We wanted to start him a little later in his 2-year-old year. We were angling for August or September and we took him to Remington. But Mike got COVID. He got it really bad and it killed him. He passed away in September. Don'tcrossthedevil was actually supposed to start the day after Mike died. We had to scratch him out of that race because of that.”

The loss hit Knuckley hard.

“He was a big brother, a mentor to me in this business,” Knuckley said. “He was the one who got me started pinhooking and we raced horses with Mike. Everything, foundationally, that I know about this business goes back to Mike. I watched his kids grow up, Jaylan and his stepson Lane Richardson. And now I am partners with Lane in pinhooking and I've got three runners in training with Jaylan.”

A few weeks after Neatherlin's passing, Don'tcrossthedevil fulfilled the Texas horseman's belief in him, breaking his maiden at Remington Park by 1 1/2 lengths. He added a six-length victory in an allowance race a month later.

“Both times I cried like a baby,” Knuckley said of those victories. “I mean, I just bawled. Because I missed Mike so much. And I know how proud he was of his daughter and me. And being able to team up like this–how special it was. All of these emotions just came up.”

The two impressive victories led to some inquiries to sell the promising young runner.

“The phone started ringing a couple of times [after his first win],” Knuckley said. “Jaylan priced him at $200,000 or $250,000, no one really bid at that point. His next race, he won again. And did it really impressively. The phone rang again. And finally we came to terms with Mark Martinez [of Agave Racing].”

Martinez purchased Don'tcrossthedevil for $225,000, with Knuckley staying in for 10%.

“He probably would have been the favorite for the Springboard Mile at Remington, but Mark didn't have any connections there and he raced with Phil D'Amato, who had an assistant at Oaklawn,” Knuckley recalled. “We shipped him to Oaklawn and on Jan. 1, we put him on the Derby trail in the Smarty Jones. That was a nightmare. It was rainy, terrible trip, everything, and he didn't do well there at all. We put him in the Southwest and that was a mess, too. We took him off the trail and shipped him out to California under Phil's direct training.”

Things didn't improve for the gelding out on the West Coast where he was well-beaten in three starts. Martinez was ready to call it quits, but Knuckley couldn't let go of his last connection to Neatherlin.

“We tried routing him, we tried him on the grass,” Knuckley said of Don'tcrossthedevil's time in California. “But we just couldn't put it together. Phil has probably 175 horses in his barn and I think this horse just got lost in the program and in the shuffle out there. Mark said he was ready to drop him for $16,000-$20,000 at Santa Anita. And I flat out told him, that's giving him away and they are going to take him. And he said, 'I am done.' This is a guy who payed $225,000 for this horse and he was ready to walk away from him.”

Martinez, who had by this point become a good friend, as well as a business partner to Knuckley, ultimately let him buy the horse back at a fraction of his estimated value and Don'tcrossthedevil returned home to Clary's barn. In his first start back for his breeder and original trainer, the gelding was a creditable second going 6 1/2 furlongs at Lone Star in May. He was third when stretched to a mile June 10 and made it all the way back to the winner's circle as a 25-1 longshot Monday evening.

“If you look at his running line, ever since Jaylan has had him, his Equibase numbers have gone up,” Knuckley said. “From 77, 81 and in the 90s yesterday. His best races have been with Jaylan. Yesterday, he finally did it. He found the winner's circle again and he found it with Jaylan. She bred him, she raised him and she brought this horse back. He was lost and she found him.”

Knuckley celebrated the victory a state away near his home in Texas.

“I went to Lone Star Bar and Book and I was there among a handful of strangers and they were all wondering what was going on,” Knuckley said. “I bought a round of drinks for the whole bar. It was a rush of emotions. I welled up. I thought of Mike and I was just so proud of Jaylan. And selfishly, I was happy for myself for bringing him back, for keeping the faith. We thought we had a big horse, we took our shot on the Derby trail and, as it does for most, it didn't end well. And sometimes you never see or hear from those horses again. And this horse has shown how resilient he is. I am proud of him for that.”

He continued, “As always there is that almost indescribable and unrivaled feeling of exhilaration of winning a horse race. And on top of the adrenaline and sentimental emotions that the victory carried with it, there was an unmistakable sensation of redemption. And when I spoke to Jaylan last night, we both agreed that Mike had that magnetic smile and look of pure joy on his face as he looked down upon us. We could feel how proud he is of us.”

As for what is next for Don'tcrossthedevil, Knuckley said, “I am not against trying a low-level listed stakes, maybe a $75,000 stakes or something and see what that looks like.”

5th-Louisiana Downs, $28,330, 7-17, (C), 3yo/up, 1m 70y (off turf), 1:43.45, ft, 4 1/4 lengths.

DON'TCROSSTHEDEVIL (g, 4, Cross Traffic–The Devil Is Mine {SP}, by Devil His Due) Lifetime Record: 11-3-1-1, $73,292. O-Kevin Knuckley & Pat Heinsen; B-Jaylan Renay Neatherlin (KY); T-Jaylan Renay Clary. *1/2 to Eurodevilwoman (Euroears), SP, $217,408.

The post Knuckley, Clary Keep Neatherlin Legacy Alive With Don’tcrossthedevil appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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James Layden and Kevin Knuckley, who enjoyed a pinhooking home run with their JK Bloodstock partnership at the OBS March sale, will look to keep the momentum going at next week's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale of Selected 2-Year-Olds in Training. Layden takes a three-horse consignment into the South Florida auction, two of whom–a colt by Ghostzapper and a colt by Speightstown–he owns in partnership with Knuckley.

Layden and Knuckley, who are partners on 12 juveniles to pinhook this spring, got off to a quick start in Ocala when an Uncle Lino filly (hip 416) they had purchased for $6,500 as a weanling at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed Sale brought a final bid of $200,000 at OBS following a furlong work in :10 flat.

“She was just a good individual, well-balanced and just a nice-looking baby,” Layden said of the filly's appeal as a weanling. “She just grew up and was the same horse in a bigger size. I knew she could run when she left the farm and I was hoping she would work like she did. She galloped out really big and made a beautiful video. So everything just came together with her. But she's a good individual and nice horses perform when it's their time. I am happy with the result, but she was worth it. You don't have horses like that everyday.”

Layden and Knuckley have been partnering on horses for the past four years and for Knuckley, a native Texan and owner of a Ditch Witch construction equipment dealership, the partnership has been a dream come true for a lifelong racing fan.

“My true passion for racing started at a Class II track called Trinity Meadows in Willow Park, Texas, just west of Fort Worth,” Knuckley recalled. “I was 16 years old and it was just me and my dad going to the track. Naturally, I got to bet illegally and I won a little bit and that really got me hooked. Finally in 1997, Lone Star Park became a reality and we got Class I racing in Texas and I would go out to the track any time I could.”

Knuckley's father Paul eventually got involved in racing partnerships.

“We had middling racing success with some of these older claimers,” the son recalled.

One near-miss for the father-son team still resonates years later.

“Dad had a choice,” Knuckley said. “He had to pick between a horse called Scoot the Goose and Charismatic. And he chose Scoot the Goose. He loves to tell that story.”

Scoot the Goose (Fly Till Dawn) would win twice in 12 lifetime starts and earn just over $37,000 on the racetrack. Charismatic would win the 1996 GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S.

Knuckley eventually found his way into the pinhooking game with Texas-based trainer Michael Neatherlin and while pinhooking a pair of juveniles with another partner at the 2017 Gulfstream sale, met up with Layden.

“We bonded over those few days and really got to know each other,” Knuckley said. “We shook hands after the sale and we walked out of the parking lot that night and [Fasig-Tipton's] Terence Collier walked out with us and congratulated James on the sale. It was a really cool moment. I had met James at a couple sales at Keeneland and I didn't know what his prior success was, but I could tell he was a good horseman.”

The JK Bloodstock pinhooking partnership was born that night in the Gulfstream parking lot.

“We have this system working,” Knuckley said of the partnership. “When I go to sales, I'm not the guy who knows just enough to be dangerous. I know a little more than that. And I'm still dangerous. I would never buy a horse without having a true horseman inspect him and take a look at it. And that's certainly where James comes in on this deal.”

Knuckley describes himself as the research and numbers side of the operation.

“I am really good on pedigrees,” Knuckley said. “I have really studied the breed pretty intensely. And then I'll look back at the Auction Edge and I'll go back and look at True Nicks and I'll do the nerd work, I guess. Because I'm a numbers guy. I can see some things in the physicals–and it's great now that they have the videos–but I can look back at the numbers, at the sales figures, I can certainly look at dosage profiles and how the sales are working–whether it be a sire or the family, certain crosses. Not everything can be about the pedigree, but I do know this, the ones that perform outside of their pedigree are clearly the exceptions and not the rules. So I believe in pedigree, I believe in good crosses, I believe in dosage profiles and the grading systems, especially if you look at the stakes results, you can see many of these are As and A+s.”

While Knuckley wasn't able to attend the Midlantic December sale in 2019, the filly with a light pedigree page impressed Layden, who reported back to his partner.

“James picked out this Uncle Lino filly and it was his first or second crop and he is a Maryland sire who wasn't getting a lot of recognition at that point–I think he was a $4,000 sire,” Knuckley said. “But James said, 'I really like this filly. I really think she can grow into something.' And then I looked and I said, 'She is checking all the boxes on my end, the cross, the dosage. The only thing that wasn't there was the page. Her page was extremely light, but for $6,500, we had a lot of potential. So we were thinking maybe she'll bring $40,000 of $50,000.”

Knuckley wasn't able to watch the filly sell at OBS.

“I was on a flight for a spring break trip with my kids and I knew I was probably going to miss her,” Knuckley said. “James said, 'I think there is a shot she brings $100,000.' And I said that would be great, that's a home run. I get off the flight and the text pops up and he said, 'She brought $200,000.' And I just about flipped. I couldn't believe it. It's the biggest home run–as far as a multiple goes–I've ever had on a pinhook. I mean 30X. That's insane.”

JK Bloodstock will offer a pair of colts at the Gulfstream sale, led off by a colt by Ghostzapper (hip 69) who is the first foal out of Alpine Sky (Indian Charlie), a daughter of graded winner Alpine Garden (Lemon Drop Kid).

“He doesn't have as quick a turn of foot, but he's a really nice colt,” Layden said of the dark bay. “He's going to make a nice racehorse later on. He's kind of a 3-year-old type, it looks like.”

The colt was purchased for $130,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Showcase.

The partnership will also be represented at the Gulfstream sale by a colt by Speightstown (hip 124). Out of Holiday Blues (Ghostzapper), a half-sister to multiple graded placed Wine Police (Speightstown), the juvenile was a $90,000 purchase at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale.

“He's a pretty nice colt and he's doing very well,” Layden said. “He may not be a bullet here, but he'll be in the top 20%.”

Layden's Gulfstream consignment is completed by a son of Mastery (hip 56), who is a half-brother to the speedy Nashville (Speightstown). Layden purchased the colt for $80,000 at the Fasig October sale, just a week before Nashville's record-setting victory in the Perryville S. at Keeneland.

“That's a good update that we got after we got him,” Layden said of the colt. “And he's doing really well right now. I look for him to be pretty good, too.”

Of his Gulfstream trio, Layden said, “All three of these are big, strong colts and when you come down with this kind of competition, you've got to have something pretty substantial to actually hold up.”

Layden will look for his Gulfstream consignment to continue on from the successful result at OBS.

“There are always high expectations with what we've got,” he said. “Because we've got some pretty nice horses, I think, all the way through the sales.”

For his part, Knuckley balances his optimism with a healthy dose of realistic expectations.

“I've been to that Gulfstream sale and had some success there,” Knuckley said. “And I've also had some heartache there. We had two get hurt there and we thought they were going to bring a quarter-million dollars a piece. So, as with any endeavor in this business, you kind of hold your breathe a little bit. Anything can happen, but the two individuals we have there are by proven, prolific sires. Ghostzapper and Speightstown are about as solid as they come.”

As the partnership moves into the second juvenile auction of the year, Knuckley is clearly enjoying the ride.

“We are a small operation,” he said. “James is based in Ehrhardt, South Carolina and I'm back here in Fort Worth, Texas. I'm just an individual owner, I'm not part of a high-powered stable. So for us to hit these kind of home runs, it gives you goose bumps some times. As our little partnership has grown, we've been able to take a little more risk and make some larger buys. When you get to check off that bucket list of going to Saratoga two summers ago for the yearling sale there and to be able to go this Gulfstream sale, I just got to tell you, that's part of the dream. Outside of going to the Derby in this business, it is fulfilling a big part of the dream. And to do it with someone like James Layden, who has taught me a lot and brought me in with this experience, it's really hard to put into words about how much this means to me. James should get all the credit, he does a lot of the work. I'm extremely proud and honored to be his partner.”

The under-tack show for the Gulfstream sale will be held next Monday beginning at 9 a.m. The auction will be held next Wednesday with bidding scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.

The post Layden, Knuckley Look to Keep the Mojo Going at Gulfstream Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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