Knicks Go | Horse Racing Free Tips

Bill Farish Says He’s ‘Bullish’ On Racing’s Future On Writers’ Room

There are few people in racing more qualified to speak on the health of the sport than Lane's End's Bill Farish. In addition to running the historic farm, Farish is chairman of the board of the Breeders' Cup, chairman of the Horse PAC and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Keeneland Association, the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and the University of Kentucky's Gluck Equine Research Foundation. Wednesday, Farish joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland, calling in as the Green Group Guest of the Week to explain why he's “bullish” on racing's future, share his thoughts on the 140-mare cap and much more.

“I'm incredibly bullish on the future of the sport,” he said. “I think we've got a lot of positives. The state of Kentucky needs to get the historic horse racing deal figured out, because that's a huge, huge boost to the industry. If we can keep those purses where they were heading, and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act that was recently passed, I think is hugely important for our future. We've got to get the testing right. We need to have greater integrity and more confidence from the bettors in the product. I think that will go a long way in helping that. I was going to say restoring it, but I'm not sure it's ever been there to the degree it should be. I think that's a huge thing.”

Asked about The Jockey Club's new rule capping stallion books at 140 mares, Farish explained his support for the measure, saying, “First of all, I don't think there is as many people on the side of large books as there are on the side of limiting books. But, to me it's quite obvious, we have literally 50% the number of stallions standing in Kentucky that we did 20 years ago. That's a direct result of increased book size. So, I think looking at the list of mares bred this year, there would be literally, I think the number is about 900 mares, to spread amongst other stallions from the stallions that are being bred over 140.”

Elsewhere on the show, the crew reacted to the dominant performance of Knicks Go (Paynter) in the GI Pegasus World Cup, talked about where some of the weekend's dominant 3-year-old colts fit on the Derby trail and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, broke down the tricky situation surrounding historical horse racing in Kentucky. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Bloodlines Presented By Diamond B Farm’s Rowayton: Knicks Go Serves As Rising Tide For His Connections

The Awesome Again stallion Paynter had an unusual result in the 2021 running of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 23. He had two sons starting in the race, and they finished as bookends to the field. Favored Knicks Go won the race by 2 3/4 lengths in 1:47.89, and graded stakes winner Harpers First Ride was essentially eased to finish last of the 12 racers.

The winner is one of four graded stakes winners among the 15 stakes winners to date sired by Paynter, winner of the Grade 1 Haskell in 2012. Also second in the Belmont Stakes to the highly regarded young stallion Union Rags (Dixie Union), Paynter has gotten horses of good speed among his better stock, including the unquestionably fast Knicks Go.

The latter has won his last four races, including the G1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, and he is among the best older horses in training. Following the gray horse's victory at Gulfstream, his sire Paynter catapulted to the top of the leading sires list for 2021 with nearly $2.1 million in earnings this year, with last year's leading sire Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday) lurking ominously in second. Third place on the leading sires list currently is Tapiture (Tapit), and it is not coincidental that Knicks Go and Tapiture's leading earner, Jesus' Team, were one-two in the Pegasus, just as they were in the Breeders' Cup.

In phenotype, Paynter is quite like his sire, the Deputy Minister stallion Awesome Again. Both are medium-sized horses with quality and refinement, and they clearly take after the physical type of Awesome Again's maternal grandsire, European champion Blushing Groom, more than Eclipse Award winner Deputy Minister, a towering figure of size and scope, allied with uncommon quality.

After surviving laminitis, Paynter came back to race at four but approached his previous form only with a second-place finish to subsequent Breeders' Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man (Macho Uno) in the G1 Awesome Again Stakes named for Paynter's famous father.

The bay horse went to stud in Kentucky at WinStar for an initial fee of $25,000 live foal, and in Paynter's second book of mares, foals of 2016, was the mare who produced Knicks Go.

Bred in Maryland by Angie Moore, Knicks Go is out of the stakes-winning Outflanker mare Kosmo's Buddy, who won a pair of stakes, the 2008 Maryland Million Turf Sprint and the Crank It Up Stakes, and placed second or third in a dozen more, earning $298,095.

A winner of five races from 37 starts, Kosmo's Buddy was claimed by Moore's Green Mount Farm for $40,000 out of her next-to-last start, when the mare finished third. She came back to race once more, finishing fourth in the 2010 Maryland Million Turf Sprint.

Sabrina Moore was co-breeder of the horses with her mother, recalling that the mare was claimed in her mother's name because “this was all her dream.” As the breeding and racing operation developed, “I was so young that it was simpler for us to use my mom's ID and all for the business.

“And as I grew up and became more involved in working with the horses, we decided to make Green Mount Farm a more commercial business. I became a partner in the breeding, including becoming a partner with breeding Knicks Go,” Sabrina Moore said. The Moores bred the first half-dozen foals out of the mare.

Knicks Go is the mare's fourth foal. Kosmo's Buddy has a gray 3-year-old colt by the good sire Broken Vow (Unbridled) who is unraced, has no 2-year-old, has a gray yearling filly by champion Justify (Scat Daddy), and is in foal for 2021 to Horse of the Year Ghostzapper (Awesome Again). Moore noted that the “Broken Vow is really nice and in training at Pimlico. He has a lot of substance, standing about 16 hands.”

When carrying Knicks Go, Kosmo's Buddy was consigned to the 2015 Keeneland November sale but was bought back at $37,000. After Knicks Go won a maiden, Moore recalled that “agent Jun Park had called about buying her, and as a small breeder, you make money where you can.” So the Moores sold the hefty gray in a private transaction through the same agent who had helped pick out Knicks Go as a yearling for the KRA.

After the gray colt won his first Grade 1, the 2018 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, the new owner decided to send the mare to the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale, where she was bought back for $195,000 when she was listed as “Not Bred” in the catalog.

After that sale, Hanzly Albina said: “Nick Sallusto and I had noticed that she had been bought back. We negotiated and got her for a very good price” on behalf of Newtown Anner Stud LLC, which is the breeder of the Justify filly mentioned above.

Albina continued: “When we bought this mare, we knew we were never going to sell her. So it didn't matter that she isn't the tallest or most attractive individual herself. She's a Grade 1 producer, and Newtown Anner is both a commercial and a racing operation; we try to offer all the yearlings at auction, but if we have one that doesn't bring a reasonable sum at a sale, we're happy to race on with it.”

In selecting a first mate for Newtown Anner's new mare, Albina said, “I had intended to send her to Ghostzapper, but with Justify retiring, you only get one chance at the first year to a Triple Crown winner. The result is that we have a nice filly. From what I've seen of the mare's foals, she translates the stallion through, and the Justify [yearling] has a lot of size, an extended hip, and is a very nice physical.”

In addition to sharing the gray color of her dam, the Justify filly has a gray half-brother who is one of the top horses in training in 2021.

When Knicks Go went through the ring for the first time at the 2016 Keeneland November sale as a weanling, he sold to Northface Bloodstock for $40,000 from the Bill Reightler consignment, as agent for Green Mount. The price for the colt was the seventh-highest for a weanling among the 24 sold by Paynter in 2016.

Ten months later, the gray colt went to the sales again with Woods Edge Sales and brought $87,000 (sixth among 67 yearlings sold by the sire) at the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale, selling to the Korea Racing Authority. As I documented in an article about Knicks Go when he won the Breeders' Futurity, the KRA purchased Knicks Go and a handful of other prospects as an experiment in selecting good athletes that might be stallion prospects.

In Knicks Go, there's no question they have a winner.

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Joel Rosario Parlays Pegasus Victory Into Jockey Of The Week Title

Joel Rosario posted three stakes wins including the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup to be named Jockey of the Week for Jan. 18 through Jan. 24. The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, is for jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 950 active riders in the United States as well as retired and permanently disabled jockeys.

Rosario began the week at Santa Anita on Monday in the Grade 3 Megahertz Stakes aboard Mucho Unusual for trainer Tim Yakteen. Breaking alertly in the scratched-down field of four, Mucho Unusual ran in second just behind the leader. A three horse battle developed in the final furlong with Mucho Unusual prevailing by three-quarters of a length.

On Saturday, Rosario travelled to south Florida from his southern California base with mounts in four stakes races on Pegasus World Cup Day at Gulfstream Park. Shug McGaughey gave Rosario a leg up on Performer in the Grade 3 Fred W. Hooper, who went to the post as the 4-5 favorite in a field of eight. Breaking from the rail, Rosario eased him off the rail while chasing the leaders. He advanced on the tiring pacesetters on the turn and took a narrow lead into the stretch to win by a neck.

“I didn't want to fall too far back but be there in the race…he broke good and got the job done. He's a nice horse,” said Rosario. “It feels good to be back (at Gulfstream) even for a day. I'm glad to be here.”

Trainer Brad Cox teamed with Rosario on Knicks Go in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup. The 6-5 favorite went right to the lead and was on cruise control, cantering home by 2-3/4 lengths in 1:47.89.

“He's a very special horse,” Rosario said who has piloted Knicks Go to three straight wins. “He just goes faster and faster…He was really enjoying what he was doing out there, so I was never worried about somebody getting close to me.”

After riding on the east coast since 2013, Rosario returned to southern California for the Santa Anita Winter/Spring meet. He has won multiple riding titles in southern California and is currently third in the standings at Santa Anita.

Rosario's weekly stats were 18-5-0-1 and was the leading jockey by purse earnings with $1,929,645.

Rosario out-polled fellow jockeys Colby Hernandez who won the most races with 10, Tyler Gaffalione with two graded stakes wins, Abel Cedillo with a graded stakes and Irad Ortiz, Jr. who won the Pegasus World Cup Turf.

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Knicks Go-Charlatan Showdown Could Be in the Offing

The Week in Review, by Bill Finley

After last year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic, it seemed that every horse that mattered had been retired and that 2021 was going to be a bleak year for the handicap ranks. But 23 days into the year, it is apparent that's not going to be the case. First, Charlatan (Speightstown) turned in a sizzling performance in his comeback race in the GI Runhappy Malibu S. and, exactly four weeks, later Knicks Go (Paynter) could not have won the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational any more easily. And the two may be on a collision course, with the possibility that they will meet in the Feb. 20 Saudi Cup.

Brad Cox reported Sunday that Knicks Go came out of the Pegasus in good shape and was on his way back to his base at Fair Grounds. Cox and his owner, the Korean Racing Authority, have yet to decide where Knicks Go will run next, but the trainer said that the Saudi Cup is “on the radar.” He added that the March 27 G1 Dubai World Cup is also a consideration.

A Charlatan-Knicks Go showdown in Saudi Arabia would be great theater. Not only are they both immensely talented, both are horses that combine brilliant early speed with stamina. If they were to meet, it would be possible that they could turn the event into a match race, going hard after one another every step of the way.

In the meantime, Cox will allow himself to enjoy what was a statement-making performance from Knicks Go Saturday at Gulfstream. Not only did he win decisively, he had no problem negotiating the mile-and-an-eighth distance, dispelling one of the few knocks against a horse who had never run beyond a mile and a sixteenth.

“We are hopeful that he can be a top horse in the handicap division,” Cox said. “On Saturday, he was able to get a mile and an eighth with solid fractions up front and was able to carry his speed. He's a very talented horse. He showed brilliance as a 2-year-old in the Breeders' Futurity and again in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. He came right back to that form.”

What makes Knicks Go so dangerous is that he is capable of ripping off fractions of 22.90, 46.16 and 1:09.91, his splits in the Pegasus, and keep going as if the pace took nothing out of him.

“Any time you are running races at a mile and an eighth or more, speed is deadly,” Cox said.

The Saudi Cup is a one-turn, mile-and-an-eighth race, while the Dubai World Cup is a mile-and-a-quarter event run around two turns. At some point, whether it is in the Dubai World Cup or the Breeders' Cup Classic, Knicks Go is going to have to show that he can get the 10 furlongs. Cox doesn't see it as a problem.

“I like the idea of him going two turns and a mile and a quarter,” he said. “I think he can handle that and that's why Dubai is an option.”

Though Knicks Go won the GI Breeders' Futurity as a 2-year-old, he did not put it together until joining the Cox stable before a Feb. 22 allowance at Oaklawn. He's 4-for-4 since and has turned in Beyer numbers of 107, 108 and 108 in his last three starts. His best number prior to entering the Cox barn was a 93.

“His works at the Fair Grounds leading up to the Pegasus, I thought he was as good or better than he was leading up to the Dirt Mile,” Cox said. “He's the type of horse that gives you confidence as a trainer.”

A Bright Future For Prevalence?

There were seven graded stakes races on the Saturday card at Gulfstream, but there was no overshadowing the performance by Prevalence (Medaglia d'Oro) in the sixth race, a seven-furlong maiden special weight event. Trained by Brendan Walsh, he ran away from what looked like a strong group on paper. Eased up at the end by Tyler Gaffalione, he nonetheless managed to win by 8 1/2 lengths, earning an 89 Beyer and 'TDN Rising Star' honors. The runner-up was Stage River (Pioneerof the Nile), the half brother to Triple Crown winner Justify (Scat Daddy).

“I thought he was a nice horse, but did I expect him to do that? No. It was impressive,” trainer Brendan Walsh said.

Walsh said he has yet to decide on what will be next for Prevalence.

Though it's a long way from a maiden race in January to the Kentucky Derby, Prevalence ran well enough to suggest that he could be a major factor going forward in the 3-year-old ranks. That's more good news for Godolphin. The stable has had no success when it comes to the GI Kentucky Derby and now has two candidates in Prevalence and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Essential Quality (Tapit). This is easily the strongest hand Godolphin has had with fewer than 100 days to go until the Derby.

Larry King, Horseplayer

Long before he came to CNN, Larry King, who died last week at age 87, had a mid-morning show on WIOD radio in Florida in the 1970s. With his afternoons off, King spent plenty of days in the press boxes at the Florida tracks, where he was known as an enthusiastic horseplayer.

In his 2009 biography “My Remarkable Journey,” King wrote about a day at Calder in 1971 where he took the last $42 to his name and wagered it on a 70-1 shot named Lady Forli. He wrote that he had win tickets on the mare and also had the exacta and the trifecta. He went on to claim that he won $11,000 on the race and used it to pay child support and his rent for a year.

It's a good story, but…

Lady Forli was born in 1972, didn't start until 1975 and never won a race in the U.S., let alone at 70-1. And in 1971, trifectas were not offered at Calder.

“Larry King spun a sweet little tale of hitting it big at the racetrack, thanks to a plucky horse named Lady Forli. Are you sitting down? It's all a lie!” reads a line from a story on the book in Deadspin.

In 2003, the horse Larry King debuted at Santa Anita. Bred by Sid and Jenny Craig, the son of Deputy Minister won three of 20 starts.

Swiss Skydiver Was Snubbed

While Authentic (Into Mischief) will be named Horse of the Year, and deservedly so, it was more than disappointing that Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) was not among the three finalists for the title.

In an era where a top horse may run four or five times a year and with eight, nine weeks off in between races, she was a breath of fresh air. Starting her year off in February and concluding it in the Breeders' Cup in November, she made 10 starts, running at nine different tracks. She won five stakes, including the GI Alabama S. and a historic win over Authentic and other males in the GI Preakness S.

Had she won the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, I very well may have voted for her for Horse of the Year. Eclipse Awards are supposed to be emblematic of sustained success over the course of the year, and no horse embodied that more than Swiss Skydiver. The voters should have recognized this and rewarded a remarkable filly for her remarkable year.

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