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Lukas Classic Next For Knicks Go; Monomoy Girl Update

Coming off a dominant win in the GI Whitney S., Horse of the Year contender Knicks Go (Paynter) will make his next start in the Oct. 2 GIII Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs, trainer Brad Cox confirmed Thursday. Knicks Go will be taking a step back in class in the $400,000 race, but Cox has taken that route before. Knicks Go warmed up for the Whitney with a 10 1/4-length romp in the GIII Prairie Meadows Cornhusker H. at Prairie Meadows.

“It's a mile-and-an-eighth race and he'll be coming right out of his own stall at Churchill,” Cox said of the Lukas Classic.

Knicks Go, who has not had a published work since the Whitney, will get back to business Friday morning at Saratoga.

“He's currently at Saratoga training over the Oklahoma training track,” the trainer said. “We will breeze him [Friday morning] at 6-6:30. It will be just an easy maintenance half-mile, nothing special. We will just let him stretch his legs a little bit. He will stay in Saratoga until the second week of September and then will be off to Churchill.”

Cox also had an update on Monomoy Girl (Tapizar), who rejoined his stable at Ellis Park Thursday morning. She has not started since finishing second in the GI Apple Blossom H. Apr. 17 at Oaklawn. Afterward, it was announced that she had been experiencing some minor muscle strains and hamstring

soreness. She was sent to WinStar Farm to recuperate.

“We're just going to gradually start back with her,” Cox said. “We'll start her off [Friday] with some short gallops and gradually increase the workload, as long as she allows us to press forward with her.”

Cox is not confident that Monomoy Girl can make the Nov. 6 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff.

“To be real honest, I think she's really up against it when it comes to making the Breeders' Cup,” Cox said. “We're going to let her tell us, tell us what she's able to do over the next month or so. The first thing will be getting her back on the work tab. With her being an older horse, I don't think it will take a whole lot of works to ger her fit. But, she'll tell us over the next month or two if she's going to be able to make it back or not.”

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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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Whitney Hopefuls Knicks Go, By My Standards Both Preparing Away From Saratoga

Two of the top contenders for the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes on Aug. 7 at Saratoga have been preparing out of town, reports the Daily Racing Form. Knicks Go has been training at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky., while By My Standards is currently based at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va.

The Whitney is a “Win and You're In” race for the Breeders' Cup Classic this fall at Del Mar.

Knicks Go, the 5-year-old son of Paynter, worked six furlongs at Ellis Sunday in 1:12 flat, according to Equibase. The Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and Pegasus World Cup winner disappointed in both the Saudi Cup and the Met Mile, but rebounded with a big effort in the Grade 3 Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows last out to win by 10 1/4 lengths. Trainer Brad Cox, who is himself based at Saratoga, said he's kept Knicks Go in Kentucky due to the staffing situation.

“He's really tough and the gallop boy that's done a good job with him over the last year or so is there for the summer so it made more sense to keep him there as opposed to bringing him up here,” Cox told DRF.

With Churchill Downs shut down for the summer to renovate the turf course, trainer Bret Calhoun shipped part of his stable to Colonial Downs, including By My Standards. Winner of the Oaklawn Mile and second, beaten a length, to Silver State in the G1 Met Mile last out, the 5-year-old son of Goldencents has put in back-to-back six-furlong works in 1:11 flat at Colonial over the past two weekends. Calhoun told DRF he will work the horse once more at Colonial before shipping to Saratoga.

Knicks Go Gains ‘Confidence’ In Iowa, Headed To Aug. 7 Whitney

The Korea Racing Authority's Knicks Go may have disappointed in the Saudi Cup and the Met Mile, but the 5-year-old son of Paynter got back on track Friday night at Iowa's Prairie Meadows with a 10 1/4-length romp in the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap. Trainer Brad Cox was pleased with the horse's effort, and told the Thoroughbred Daily News his next target will be the G1 Whitney at Saratoga on Aug. 7.

“It's always great to run in Grade 1's and it's great to have horses that are Grade 1 horses,” Cox told the TDN. “He's a Grade 1 horse. But I do think a race like this one can give the horse confidence and fitness without really getting to the bottom of them. It was a nice race going a mile-and-an-eighth and I think it, being five weeks out, was a nice set up for the Whitney. A race like that can do a lot for a horse. He's a sound, happy horse and we witnessed that last Friday.”

The Whitney is a “Win and You're In” race for the Breeders' Cup Classic, which Cox indicated could be a future target for Knicks Go. The horse won the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland last fall, so Cox would be changing things up to aim for the 1 1/4-mile Classic. The trainer suggested Knicks Go is better around two turns, as both of his poor efforts in 2021 came in one-turn races.

“With the way he ran Friday and the configuration of Del Mar, the Classic is definitely in play,” Cox continued. “Both Breeders' Cup races are in play. At Del Mar, we think a mile-and-a-quarter is something he can handle. I think he's a horse that benefits from a shorter stretch. Keeneland has a short stretch when you run a mile there. Gulfstream has a bit of a shorter stretch. There was a shorter stretch the other night at Prairie Meadows and Del Mar doesn't have a long stretch. Those are things we've picked up on over the last year that seem to benefit him.”

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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