Cyberknife slices along the rail to upset Haskell Stakes

Oceanport, N.J.

By the time the Grade 1, $1,017,500 Haskell Stakes was about to start Saturday evening, trainer Brad Cox was under extra pressure.

He had been on a private plane from Saratoga only a few hours earlier with rival trainer Chad Brown, Brown’s girlfriend and three jockeys. By the time the Haskell rolled around, Brown had won five races, including four graded stakes. Cox had been shut out in his one previous try Saturday.

“I need to win one of these so I can pay for my share of the flight,” Cox said in the Monmouth Park paddock.

Cyberknife (7-1) accomplished Cox’s mission. Not only did Cox win one, he won the biggest one Saturday.

The winner of the Arkansas Derby (G1) and Matt Winn (G3) came from near the back of the pack to snag the narrow victory in the Haskell. Under a brilliant, traffic-threading ride from Florent Géroux, Cyberknife finished a head better than Taiba (2-1). Post-time favorite Jack Christopher (3-5) was another two lengths behind in third. Howling Time (25-1) stayed in mid-pack throughout the race and finished fourth.

On a main track baked hard and fast by 86-degree sunshine, Cyberknife was clocked at 1:46.24 for the 1 1/8 miles. That broke the track record of 1:46.53 set less than two hours earlier by Monmouth Cup (G3) winner Highly Motivated, one of Brown’s horses.

“We’ve liked this horse from the get-go,” Cox said about the $400,000 Gun Runner colt who was bred by Ken and Sarah Ramsey and bought as a yearling by New Jersey native Al Gold. “It’s just been getting him to channel his energy and relax in his races and really give him a target. I think he’s figuring that out. That you really can’t make the lead with him too early, or he’ll wait on other horses.”

The targets Saturday were first the local long shot Benevengo (56-1), who set the early pace and eventually faded to fifth. Then it was Jack Christopher, Brown’s previously undefeated colt who grabbed a narrow lead at the top of the stretch. Then it was Taiba, the lightly raced horse who made a late bid to be Bob Baffert’s 10th Haskell winner.

“He ran a gallant race,” Bafffert said in a text message about the colt who also was sired by Gun Runner. “One work short. Really proud of him.”

Taiba and Cyberknife were almost in lockstep with five-eighths of a mile to go. Making the turn into the homestretch, Géroux had to circle one horse, but he still cut the corner to find a seam along the rail while Mike Smith and Taiba were finding clean air going three wide. Taiba passed Jack Christopher to take the lead at the eighth pole, but it did not last.

Géroux kept urging and scrubbing with his right hand, leading a charge along the rail. Cyberknife poached the lead with about 120 yards to go and left Taiba heartbreakingly close in second.

“Too good to lose,” Smith said. “He’s still a little green. Real timid down in there. That was the difference. He stayed in there and got through, but he wouldn’t run down in there. I couldn’t get him going. With more experience he’ll be fine.”

After hugging the rail from a post 1 start, Géroux made the first of several moves by going to the two path into the first turn. He stayed there on the backstretch, trailing by as many as 4 1/2 lengths and leading only two of the other seven horses. That was when he began to make his move.

“I thought I was a little bit farther back than I thought I would be,” Géroux said. “When I was tracking Taiba, I felt pretty confident. From there I knew I was loaded. I was just waiting very patiently. When it was time to go right down the lane, I just went for it. He was very energetic at the end and very brave, and I was able to finish first on the wire.”

With Mandaloun scoring last year because of the disqualification of first-place finisher Hot Rod Charlie, this marked the second straight year Cox and Géroux won the Haskell.

“That’s big,” Cox said. “It’s a Grade 1. It’s a top-three race in the country. It and the Travers are the best 3-year-old races in the country, for sure.”

Cox all but declared the Travers (G1) on Aug. 27 at Saratoga to be the next race for Cyberknife, whose career record ticked up to 9: 5-2-0 with earnings of $1,596,520. The only two times he failed to hit the board were his sixth-place finish in the Lecomte (G3) and his 18th-place result in the Kentucky Derby.

Yes, the same Kentucky Derby won by 80-1 long shot Rich Strike. Since Early Voting won the Preakness and Mo Donegal the Belmont Stakes and now Cyberknife the Haskell, who is the leading 3-year-old male?

“I don’t want to rank them,” Cox said with a laugh as he left the post-race news conference. “Look, it’s turned out to be a very, very good group. I was very proud of what we were able to do today. I’d say we were in the top five, for sure. I think that’s a realistic ranking.”

But there is a lot of the 2022 season to go. As Cox walked through an empty paddock Saturday on his way to meet the rest of that party of six, he knew there would be plenty of work to do before thinking about a championship.

At least he did not have to work any more to pay for his share of the flight back to upstate New York.

Fixed odds, handle, crowd

Cyberknife opened at 6-1 and drifted to 10-1 in the first Haskell with fixed-odds betting through BetMakers, a Horse Racing Nation sponsor. He closed at $9.50, or 17-2. Taiba opened at 5-2 and closed at a best price of 3-1. Jack Christopher began at even money and at post time was $1.70, or 7-10.

The Haskell card attracted $19,896,954 in all-sources handle, a 30 percent increase from last year’s $15,243,585. The on-track, pari-mutuel handle was $1,303,642, an 11 percent increase from $1,170,950 in 2021. A track spokesman announced the attendance was 22,138.