Knicks Go earns Cox another Breeders' Cup win in Dirt Mile
Knicks Go blazed through torrid fractions, pulled away from his rivals anyway and earned Brad Cox another Breeders’ Cup victory.
The 4-year-old Paynter colt covered eight furlongs at Keeneland in a track record 1:33.85 on Saturday to win the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
Knicks Go’s triumph in the Grade 1, $1 million event gave Cox three Breeders’ Cup victories out of the first eight championship events of the weekend. Cox won the Juvenile Fillies Turf on Friday with Aunt Pearl and the Juvenile with Essential Quality.
Jockey Joel Rosario let Knicks Go, the 2-1 post-time favorite, fly up to the front out of post No. 5 in the 12-horse race. Complexity, the 4-1 second choice on the board, moved up to chase Knicks Go through fractions of 21.98 and 44.40.
"I just told Joel to ask him to run out of there, try to establish a position going into the first turn and clear off if possible," Cox said. "He didn't get a breather, though. He had a very good horse breathing down his neck up around the turn and up the back side. And this race for this horse it was just a very good set up."
Knicks Go never showed any negative effects from the speedy pace. He pulled away from Complexity in the short stretch and scored by 3 1/2 lengths to give Cox another winner.
“It looked like he was going easy," said Rosario, now a winner of 13 Breeders' Cup events, including two this weekend. "I didn’t know how fast he was going. He went 44 (seconds for a half mile). That was very fast. He was able to hang in there and have a kick at the eighth pole. It was a very good performance.”
A Maryland-bred owned by Korea Racing Authority, Knicks Go returned $5.60 on a $2 win bet. Jesus’ Team, the Preakness Stakes third-place finisher, was sent off at 62-1 but closed late to get up for second, a nose clear of third-place Sharp Samurai.
Knicks Go was a Grade 1 winner for former trainer Ben Colebrook as a 2-year-old in 2018. But he went winless in 2019 and was transferred to Cox’s barn for his 4-year-old campaign.
Since coming under Cox’s care, Knicks Go is 3-for-3. He won an allowance optional claiming race at Oaklawn Park in February, required bone-chip surgery after that win, and then returned and dominated another allowance event Oct. 4 at Keeneland off a layoff of more than seven months.
Knicks Go’s October allowance win — a 10 1/4-length score over 1 1/16 miles in a track record 1:40.79 — convinced Cox to let the colt run for a bigger prize over the same track in Saturday’s Dirt Mile.
"This was never something that we even had on our target when we ran this horse a month ago or five weeks ago at Keeneland," said Cox, who now has six Breeders' Cup wins for his career, all since 2018. "That was just a preparation race for possibly the Clark Handicap or the Cigar Mile. He's obviously very impressive in the third level and breaking the track record and doing it with ease.
"So I thought as long as he's doing well, we would give him an opportunity here if he could even get in. There was no certainty that he would even make the body. But very thankful for Breeders' Cup for allowing him to run, and it looks like they made the right decision. He's a very nice horse."
The team behind second-place Jesus' Team also will go home happy after he hit the board in another high-profile event. Trainer Jose D'Angelo sent Jesus' Team to Keeneland off his effort in the Preakness, where he was best of the rest behind Swiss Skydiver and Authentic.
The 3-year-old Tapiture colt raced back early on Saturday under jockey Luis Saez before finding late running room along the rail. He passed both Complexity and Sharp Samurai in the final yards to get second place.
“He has done great work (training) at Keeneland," D'Angelo said of Jesus' Team, who still has never won a race outside of claiming company. "Every day, every week he improved. He likes this track. He is the best horse I have trained in the USA and in my life, too. I am very sure that in his next race, he will be closer to a win.”
Sharp Samurai, a three-time Grade 2 winner, finished third under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. in his Breeders’ Cup debut.
The 6-year-old First Samurai gelding entered off a second-place finish Oct. 3 at Santa Anita in the City of Hope Mile Stakes (G2) over turf. Trainer Mark Glatt opted to run Sharp Samurai on Saturday in the Dirt Mile rather than over the lawn in the Mile.
“I thought down the backside we were in a decent spot and then third around the turn was pleased and would think they would have to stop for sure given the pace scenario,” Glatt said.
“He’s extremely versatile. He runs seemingly as well on dirt as he does turf and hopefully we can find a good race that he can win.”
Finishing from fourth through 12th, in order, were Complexity, Owendale, Mr. Freeze, Rushie, Art Collector, War of Will, Silver Dust, Mr. Money and Pirate’s Punch.