Knicks Go | Horse Racing Free Tips

Unique Partnership of Breeders Brings Mind Control to New York

Tenacious to the end, Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stable's Mind Control (Stay Thirsty) closed out his career with a win in the 2022 GI Cigar Mile, his third Grade I win and his 11th black-type victory. In a remarkable 29 starts over five years, Mind Control amassed total winnings of $2,185,834. In that race, as in all of Mind Control's stakes wins, he beat an impressive field of competitors, including favored Zandon, White Abarrio, and Get Her Number. Big numbers, indeed.

Numbers, as it turns out, will also be critical to his next career, as the Red Oak Stables homebred will stand at Rockridge Stud for a partnership that includes Red Oak and Madaket Stable, who raced him in partnership, as well as almost every New York farm invested in the Thoroughbred breeding business, including Irish Hill Farm, Rockridge, Dutchess Views Stallions, Waldorf Farm, and Hidden Lake Farm. Shareholders also include Joe McMahon of McMahon Farm, Saratoga Glen, and New Hill Farm.

Out of a fellow Rockridge homebred Feel That Fire (Lightnin N Thunder), a stakes-winning half-sister to MSW & GSP King For A Day (Uncle Mo) and a full to MSW Ima Jersey Girl, “He is probably one of the better horses, if not the best horse, that has ever come to New York,” said Michael Lischin of Dutchess Views Farms. The winning of the GI Cigar Mile is a great prep for being a stallion.”

Speaking to the TDN after the Cigar Mile, Todd Pletcher, who began training Mind Control in 2020, said, “If you like horse racing, you've got to love this horse. He's cool. He's done it consistently year after year at multiple distances. He's a great horse to be able to train. He's remarkably consistent and shows up every morning.”

“When we got the partnership together, it grew very quickly because, just like anything else, word of mouth goes very quickly,” said Lere Visage, owner of Rockridge Stud. “These are the bigger farms, all bound together to support a horse that they all think is going to be legit and that can improve the state and improve the mare base that we have. There's never been a partnership like that done in New York with any of the farms.”

The partners said they were confident in the quality of Mind Control's first book. Just before breeding season, to boost the stallion's chances, partners and prospective supporters purchased additional mares in Kentucky. And the partners' phones ring constantly, they said.

“Several trainers have booked mares to Mind Control,” said Visage. “They saw him as a racehorse. With that much heart and stamina, this horse is worth taking a look at. Nothing like Mind Control has ever stood in New York.”

In impressive New York style, Mind Control took his first Grade I in the 2018 Hopeful S. at Saratoga and his second in the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S., also at Saratoga. In his first start for Pletcher, Mind Control won the GII John A. Nerud S. He won the Parx Dirt Mile two starts later, was third in the 2022 GI Carter H. Two months after that, he beat Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) in Monmouth's GIII Salvator Mile. In his last start before the Cigar Mile, he finished a neck behind the leader in the Sept. 24 Parx Dirt Mile, but was promoted to first via DQ.

“He won from six furlongs to a mile,” said Lischin. “To win a Grade I race at seven furlongs at two and three, and then continue on with stakes wins every year and closing out with a Grade I stakes race at six and over $2 million is a great race record. He beat Knicks Go, Firenze Fire, Instagrand, Zandon, and Hot Rod Charlie, amongst numerous others.”

Bringing the New York farms together as a stallion just like he brought racing fans together in his career, Mind Control has created excitement in the New York Thoroughbred breeding scene.

“He comes with a lot of credentials and that's kind of a solid beginning to a horse,” said Visage. “It is also very exciting to see, and kind of refreshing to know, that the farms can all work together and, you know, support a horse that they feel is worth supporting.”

Mind Control is will stand at $8,500 LFSN.

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Knicks Go Ready For Sophomore Season at Taylor Made

After a debut season at Taylor Made during which he covered a hefty book of better than 150 mares, Horse of the Year and five-time Grade I winner Knicks Go (Paynter) is champing at the bit to get back to work as breeding sheds open their doors across Central Kentucky. The Korea Racing Authority raced the gray to 10 victories over the course of four-plus seasons and earnings north of $9.2 million, and his first year at Taylor Made has led to even greater optimism for his second. The KRA's Lee Joo-Win was generous enough to field a set of questions reflecting on last year and looking forward to 2023:

TDN: As a racehorse, you just don't see things like what Knicks Go accomplished. Grade I winner at two and later at eight, nine and 10 furlongs, yet strikes as a horse that was perhaps underrated.

Lee Jin-Woo: Knicks Go's race record speaks for itself, as he is an Eclipse Award winner and was Longines #1 Racehorse in the world of 2021. He was a Grade I winner at two at Keeneland and also won Grade Is as a 4- and 5-year-old. He danced all the dances winning both the GI Breeders' Cup Classic and GI Dirt Mile in strong wire-to-wire fashion. Our genetic research tells us speed can be genetically passed onto offspring and we are already getting great reviews from the early foal reports. Everyone says they are very athletic, well-balanced and smart foals so far.

TDN: How was Knicks Go selected as a yearling and why was it decided to race him in the U.S. instead of exporting him to Korea?

L J-W: K-Nicks is the genomic selection system made by the Korea Racing Authority. Genomic selection is a breeding technique that uses genomic data, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), to predict an individual's breeding value for racing ability. Knicks Go was selected by K-Nicks at the 2017 Keeneland September sale. He had the highest breeding value among about 100 samples collected four weeks prior to the sale. His breeding value is 150, which is in the top 3% of the Thoroughbred population.

TDN: What stands out about Knicks Go as a physical specimen? Are there other attributes that make him desirable?

L J-W: As Brad Cox said after winning the Breeders' Cup Classic, Knicks Go is built for American dirt racing. In other words, he has innate precocity, speed and stamina. He's a very well-balanced, athletic horse, correct, with a big walk. Knicks Go is an extremely intelligent horse that loved to train and race. As a middle-distance racehorse rather than a sprinter, he has tremendous turn of foot in his two-turn races. A large, strong heart and athletically superior conformation made this possible. If you watch his races, he was always able to put a few lengths on the competition coming out of the turn and that's purely an athletic trait, being able to corner those turns at a high rate of speed. Also, Knicks Go was a very sound racehorse in his career and raced without Lasix as an older horse

TDN: What does Knicks Go offer from a pedigree standpoint?

L J-W: Knicks Go is an Awesome Again line, and free of A.P. Indy and Storm Cat in his pedigree, so he can be tried with a lot of different bloodlines through A.P. Indy and sons and grandsons as well as anything from the Storm Cat line. Very outstanding sires such as Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer have a moderate height and have well-balanced conformation, delivering excellent heritability.

TDN: Talk about his first book of mares (quantity and quality) that he covered in 2022 and how he adapted to life as a stallion.

L J-W: Knicks Go had a very strong book of 151 mares in his first year at stud. Both his CI and CPI ranked #3 amongst all stallions in his crop. He received very good support from all of the big commercial breeders in Central Kentucky and was very well backed by Taylor Made's large client base of both commercial and breed-to-race customers. It can be a little bit of an adjustment coming straight into the breeding shed off the racetrack with only a few weeks in between. He settled in well after just a few weeks of breeding. He has great libido and fertility and is just as professional in the breeding shed as he was on the racetrack.

TDN: Can you tick off some of the breeders who patronized the stallion in his first year?

L J-W: We had a wonderful response from some top breeders, including Ashview Farm, Ballyrankin Stud, Bloodstock Investments, Joel Politi, Calumet Farm, Castleton Lyons, Clarkland Farm, Classic Bloodstock, Coteau Grove Farms, Crestwood Farm, Denali Stud, Watercress Farm, Machmer Hall, Manganaro Bloodstock, Narvick International, Allen Poindexter, Pollock Farms, Ramspring Farms, Rose Hill Farm, Runnymede Farm, Shawnee Farm, Spruce Lane Farm, St. George Stables, LLC, Stonehaven Steadings, Stoneriggs Farm, Town & Country, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Team Block, Walking L. Thoroughbreds and Woods Edge Farm (Peter O'Callaghan actually purchased Knicks Go as a weanling).

TDN: The list of sires set to be represented by their first foals in 2023 is formidable. How does Knicks Go fit in?

L J-W: We believe Knicks Go was the best racehorse to retire to stud in 2022. Knicks Go was a very precocious racehorse breaking his maiden first-time out in July of his 2-year-old year, won the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland by 5 1/2 lengths and ran a very game second to Game Winner in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He really thrived as an older horse under the training of Brad Cox and the switch to Joel Rosario. The more aggressive training and riding style was a natural fit that led to winning TWO different Breeders' Cup races along with the historic GI Whitney H. at Saratoga in a romp and the GI Pegasus World Cup.

TDN: How do the KRA plan on supporting him at stud? Were they/are they involved in purchasing mares to breed to him? Will they be targeting his progeny at the sales?

L J-W: KRA is promoting the establishment of a joint venture in the U.S., and the venture will purchase Knicks Go's weanlings and yearlings. Mares that are suitable for Knicks Go based on our genetic system have also been purchased.

TDN: Are there any plans in place to stand KG in Korea?

L J-W: The KRA is committed to keeping Knicks Go in the United States and giving his progeny the opportunity to perform as racehorses. He will be given every chance to be a successful stallion in the United States. Just like any other stallion standing in Kentucky, the success of his progeny will be evaluated and that will determine his long-term future.

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Book Review: Secretariat’s Offspring Agonistes

A stroll down the 500 block of East Maxwell Street in Lexington, Kentucky brings you to the awninged door of Black Swan Books. If your pursuits are less catholic, then Mike Courtney's seemingly endless maze of heaving shelves can accommodate even the most scrupulous bibliophile of rare Kentuckiana and equine sport culture.

Say, you're looking for a past volume on the two-time Horse of the Year Secretariat, then copious choices await. More recent works like William Nack's Secretariat: The Making of a Champion (2002) and Lawrence Scanlan's The Horse That God Built (2007) are ubiquitous.

But across the canon, you might find that there is something sorely lacking when it comes to 'Big Red' hagiography. No author has quite delved deep enough into the offspring of this champion who has continued to top Thoroughbred history by an unsurmountable 31 lengths.

That is, until now.

As the 50th anniversary of Secretariat's historic Triple Crown run is almost here, author Patricia McQueen has done all of us a massive service by rolling out her magisterial study, Secretariat's Legacy: The Sons, Daughters and Descendants Who Keep His Legend Alive, published this Mar. by SL Publications.

Despite its girth, this is decidedly not a traditional coffee table-style book with pretty pictures. Rather, this is a seriously sourced monograph, replete with revisionist perspective. Namely, that some of the bloodline critics got it wrong in memoriam, Secretariat's progeny were not agonistes. Instead, when we step back, they have on the whole made a sizable contribution to the future of this sport. Some did not 'stamp his get,' as the equine phrase goes, but there were those that certainly begat his running ability and passed it on. With an expert photographic portfolio as proof, McQueen effectively argues that the much-debated sire's influence deserves another look.

It all began for the author while she was in college. Curiosity in the Triple Crown winner took her on a pilgrimage to Kentucky in 1982 to see the fellow himself. The sire's subsequent death in 1989 propelled her down a path to locate and snap pictures of Secretariat's remaining band that would carry forth his legacy. One picture led to one story, and then the dominoes fell, as she documented as many offspring as she could.

McQueen's highly-readable style takes us along Secretariat's pedigreed shedrow where we meet Dactylographer–the sire's first stakes winner, sales toppers like Miss Secretariat and Grey Legion make an appearance, as does popular Old Friends social media darling Tinners Way. A bevy of international success stories inform us about the sire's reach that stretched from France to Japan.

We also hear some wonderful anecdotes, like the one the author tells about the unusual in-utero journey of Fanfreluche, one of Secretariat's most productive mares. Thieves absconded with her in June 1977 from Claiborne Farm, and after five months, an FBI sweep of the Bluegrass uncovered her location when she was discovered on an innocent farm after she was found wandering along a country road.

More evidence piles up, curated and culled expertly by McQueen. The chapter entitled 'The Lukas Touch' is especially rich with stories of how 'The Coach' believed Secretariat should be crossed with fast, precocious mares. Crimson Saint produced a number of these types, including Lukas runners like Terlingua, Pancho Villa, Navajo Pass and one of the last three of his progeny still alive, Border Run. From Lady's Secret and Risen Star to the influence of Storm Cat, Gone West and A.P. Indy and all the way to Bricks and Mortar, Authentic and Knicks Go, 'Big Red' is still with us.

With a foreword by Kate Tweedy and Leanne Ladin, plus an excellent appendix listing all 62 stakes winners, Secretariat's Legacy has closed the canonical 31-length gap in the scholarship. Patricia McQueen ensures that this 'Super Horse's' offspring are agonistes no longer.

Clearly, it's time to reserve a spot on the shelf at Black Swan Books.

Secretariat's Legacy: The Sons, Daughters and Decedents Who Keep His Legend Alive by SL Publications, 298 pages, photos, appendix, glossary, March 2023.

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First Foal For Taylor Made’s Knicks Go

Taylor Made Stallions' Horse of the Year Knicks Go (Paynter), a five-time Grade I winner and two-time Breeders' Cup winner, sired his first reported foal when a filly bred by Alex and Kendra Penn was born on Thursday evening, Jan. 12.

Her dam Seeking a Star (Pioneerof the Nile) is a half-sister to 2-year-old SW Miss Interpret (Street Sense), and out of a half-sister to MGISW Paulassilverlining (Ghostzapper), the dam of Artorius (Arrogate), winner of the 2022 Curlin S. at Saratoga.

Victorious in the GI Breeders' Futurity at two, Knicks Go took the 2020 renewal of the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile before adding wins in six graded stakes the following season, including the GI Pegasus World Cup, GI Whitney and GI Breeders' Cup Classic. He retired with 10 of 25 wins and earnings of $9,258,135. His stud fee is $15,000 S&N for 2023.

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