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Top-Rated Knicks Go Leads Field Of Six In Saturday’s Lukas Classic

Korea Racing Authority's Knicks Go, the top-rated horse for this year's Breeders' Cup Classic (Grade 1), headlines a compact field of six accomplished older horses that entered Saturday's $400,000 Lukas Classic (G3) at Churchill Downs – the marquee race on closing weekend of the September Meet.

The Lukas Classic, which could serve as a final prep prior to the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Nov. 6 at Del Mar, was carded as the eighth race on Saturday's 11-race program. First post is 12:45 p.m. (all times Eastern) and the Lukas Classic will go at 4:22 p.m. Named after Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, the 1 1/8-mile race shares the Saturday spotlight with the $300,000 Ack Ack (G3), which goes as Race 10 at 5:26 p.m.

Trained by Brad Cox, Knicks Go won last year's $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) to close his 4-year-old campaign. The now 5-year-old son of Paynter started the year with a 2 ¾-length victory in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) at Gulfstream Park and will enter the Lukas Classic following his dominating 4 ½-length score in the $1 million Whitney (G1) at Saratoga.

Knicks Go has competed four times at Churchill Downs but has yet to record a win beneath the historic Twin Spires. The speedy Maryland-bred's career record is comprised of 22 starts with eight wins, three seconds and one third with purse earnings of $5,368,995. Jockey Joel Rosario, who has ridden Knicks Go in his last eight starts, will have the call Saturday from post No. 2.

Chief among Knicks Go's competition in the Lukas Classic is multiple Grade 2 winner Tacitus. The Juddmonte homebred is scheduled to make his first start since his seventh-place effort in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) on Feb. 20. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the 5-year-old son of Tapit has recorded graded stakes triumphs in the Tampa Bay Derby (G2), Wood Memorial (G2) and Suburban (G2). New York-based jockey Jose Lezcano will travel to Churchill Downs Saturday for the mount from post 3.

Also entered is Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider's $200,000 West Virginia Governor's Cup (G3) winner Sprawl. Trained by Tommy Drury Jr., Sprawl gamely prevailed by 1 ¾ lengths in the Aug. 7 West Virginia Governor's Cup under jockey Joe Talamo. The chestnut colt by City Zip will have Talamo in the irons for Saturday's affair from post 6.

The complete field for the Lukas Classic from the rail out (with jockey and trainer):

New Orleans Classic (GII) winner Chess Chief (James Graham, Dallas Stewart)
Knicks Go (Rosario, Cox)
Tacitus (Lezcano, Mott)
multiple stakes winner Shared Sense (Brian Hernandez Jr., Cox)
Pegasus World Cup third Independence Hall (Javier Castellano, Michael McCarthy)
Sprawl (Talamo, Drury)

Fans who are unable to make it to Churchill Downs for the races can download and watch all the action on the Churchill Downs LIVE app. The Churchill Downs LIVE app is available free of charge on Amazon, Apple TV and Roku and features full access to the HD live stream of the Churchill Downs simulcast signal and three additional angles including the Saddling Paddock.

Action from Saturday's card at Churchill Downs is also scheduled to air from 12:30-6:30 p.m. on Fox Sports 2 as part of “America's Day at the Races.”

Wagering is available on www.TwinSpires.com, the official ADW of Churchill Downs Incorporated and its family of racetracks.

The final Twilight Thursday presented by Blue Moon of the calendar year will kick off closing week of the September Meet. Thursday's eight-race card has a first post of 5 p.m. and features $1 Blue Moon and select domestic beer, local food trucks and live music from Roadie. Racing on Friday-Sunday will have a first post of 12:45 p.m. Tickets and more information for racing this week can be found at www.ChurchillDowns.com/tickets.

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Tacitus Nearing Return To Training, Could Be Ready To Race By August

Multiple graded stakes-winner and blue-blooded Juddmonte homebred Tacitus has not been seen since finishing seventh in the $20 million Saudi Cup in February, having reportedly injured himself in his stall ahead of a planned run in the Dubai World Cup in March. According to TVG's Horse Racing Insider, the 5-year-old son of champion sire Tapit and five-time Grade 1 winner Close Hatches is nearing a return to training.

“We brought him back to the farm and…we've been back swimming him and riding him and he'll probably go back to (trainer) Bill (Mott) in the next week,” Juddmonte's general manager Garrett O'Rourke told TVG. “He looks magnificent. He hasn't turned a hair. He's put on a few pounds which, I'm sure, (trainer) Bill (Mott) will take off him quickly. If he could have about eight weeks to get him race fit, that would put him on target to be back at the races hopefully by August.”

A three-time Grade 2 winner, Tacitus has an overall record of 4-4-3 from 16 starts with earnings of $3,747,500. He has placed in Grade 1 company a total of six times, including an elevation to third in the 2019 Kentucky Derby.

Read more at TVG's Horse Racing Insider.

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Due To Minor Issue, Tacitus Will Miss Dubai World Cup For Second Straight Year

Juddmonte Farm's Tacitus will not make his next expected start in the March 27 Dubai World Cup, reports the Daily Racing Form. The gray son of Tapit and champion Close Hatches may have banged his hind leg on something and was found to be sore for several days, said Juddmonte general manager Garrett O'Rourke.

“They checked him out and recommended just to walk him for a few weeks. Hopefully nothing serious there, but everything has to go perfect for a race of that caliber,” O'Rourke told DRF.

Tacitus was shipped straight to Dubai from Saudi Arabia, where he finished fifth, beaten over 15 lengths in the Saudi Cup on Feb. 20. The Bill Mott trainee also missed last year's edition of the Dubai World Cup after shipping to the UAE, when the races were cancelled due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

The big gray's record currently stands at 4-4-3 from 16 starts for earnings of $3.7 million.

Gosden-Trained Mishriff Upsets Charlatan To Win Saudi Cup

The second edition of the Saudi Cup was billed as a battle between Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup winner Knicks Go and G1 Malibu winner Charlatan, but John Gosden-trained Mishriff, an Irish-bred 4-year-old colt by Make Believe who won last year's G1 French Derby, stole the show on Saturday, running down the Bob Baffert-trained, Mike Smith-ridden Charlatan in deep stretch to win by about one length under 21-year-old David Egan.

Saudi-based Great Scott finished third in the one-turn, 1 1/8-mile dirt race, with Knicks Go fourth after pushing Charlatan throughout and taking a brief lead into the far turn. The Brad Cox-trained Knicks Go was followed by Miguel Angel Silva-trained Sleepy Eyes Todd.

Mishriff paid $41.60 on a $2 wager in American pools for the Saudi Cup.

Mishriff, whose only previous race on dirt came when second in the 2020 Saudi Derby, was winning for the fifth time in nine career starts. He is owned by Prince AA Faisal. Mishriff was beaten 2 1/4 lengths by Japanese-trained Full Flat in the 2020 Saudi Derby, coming into that race off a 10-length maiden score in his third career start as a 2-year-old the previous November at Nottingham in England.

Coming out of the Saudi Derby, Mishriff won a Newmarket stakes in June, then proved 1 3/4 lengths the best in the G1 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) at Chantilly July 5. After a G2 stakes victory at Deauville, he finished a disappointing eighth in the G1 Champion Stakes at Ascot on Oct. 17. That was last race going into the Saudi Cup.

Charlatan darted to the front from the nine post in the 14-horse field, getting the jump on Knicks Go and Joel Rosario, who broke from the five post. Mishriff settled in just behind the top pair in the run down the backstretch, with Bill Mott-trained Tacitus up close and toward the inside.

Into the turn, Knicks Go poked his head in front, but Charlatan was not finished, re-gaining the lead as the field wound their way around the turn. At the top of the stretch, Knicks Go began to retreat, but Mishriff swung to Charlatan's outside and took dead aim on the leader. Despite running down the stretch on his left lead, Mishriff wore down Charlatan, taking a narrow advantage with 100 meters to run and gradually edged away.

The Saudi Cup was run under unusually cool, damp conditions at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.

This was the second running of what is billed as the world's richest race, offering a $20-million purse, with $10 million going to the winner. The first-place prize money from the inaugural running, won by Maximum Security, has not been paid due to the criminal charges against the horse's trainer, Jason Servis, in the United States that were filed just over a week after his victory in Saudi Arabia. Prince Bandar, head of the Saudi Cup, said in a television interview with commentator Nick Luck he hopes the purse situation will be settled in about six weeks.

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