How many BC Classic winners have never raced 1 1/4 miles?
Yes, Knicks Go is the 3-1 favorite to win the Breeders' Cup Classic in Bovada's futures odds.
A strong field is expected, including stablemate Essential Quality and Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit.
[Breeders' Cup Classic 2021: Meet the fastest contenders]
But after losses in the Saudi Cup and the Met Mile earlier this year, Knicks Go has strung together three straight wins – including an impressive 4 1/2-length win over Maxfield in the Whitney.
But, but: The 5-year-old son of Paynter never has raced farther than 1 1/8 miles. That seems to be the most consistently raised concern about his chances on Nov. 6.
"I guess there's a little bit of a question mark if he can get a mile and a quarter," trainer Brad Cox said last month. "I feel like he can at Del Mar."
The question comes up so often, one might wonder whether it has ever been done: Has the Breeders' Cup Classic ever had a winner that had not raced at 1 1/4 miles?
Yes. Three, in fact.
One of them is the mighty Zenyatta. The 2009 winner was undefeated in 13 starts before the Classic, none of which was longer than 1 1/8 miles.
Then there was Raven's Pass the year before. The 3-year-old import from England brought a record of 11: 5-4-1 to the race, with none of his starts longer than a mile.
By the way, both Raven's Pass and Zenyatta won their Classics on synthetic surfaces, the only times the race was not held on dirt.
Skip back a few years more, to 2004, and you will find that Ghostzapper had not run 1 1/4 miles in nine starts when he won the Classic at age 4.
The Breeders' Cup Classic also has had plenty of winners who had raced 1 1/4 miles but never had won before at that distance: Gun Runner, Bayern, Mucho Macho Man, Fort Larned, Blame, Saint Liam, Pleasantly Perfect, Volponi, Cat Thief, Alphabet Soup, Concern, Skywalker and Proud Truth.
And A.P. Indy had not won at 1 1/4 miles before his 1992 Breeders' Cup Classic victory – but he did win the Belmont Stakes that year at 1 1/2 miles.
As far as Cox is concerned, he is confident in the chances both of his contenders have to win him his first Classic.
"Knicks Go is a front runner, sets the pace and Essential can kind of adapt to whatever is thrown at him and always comes running. So they're not going to get in each other's way."