Taylor Made Stallions to stand Breeders' Cup Classic favourite Knicks Go

Knicks Go, a four-time Grade 1 winner and a dominating victor of the 2020 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and 2018 Breeders' Futurity, will retire to Taylor Made Stallions at the conclusion of his racing career.

Campaigned by Korea Racing Authority, Knicks Go is currently the top-ranked older horse on the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Thoroughbred Poll as he prepares for his next start in the $6 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar on November 6. A stud fee will be announced after the Breeders' Cup.

"The KRA's goal was to buy and race in the US with an eye toward developing stallions," said Jun Park, racing manager for the KRA's United States stable.

"As his name suggests, Knicks Go is a horse that was selected by a genome selection programme called K-Nicks, which was designed to help select optimally excellent racehorses and stallions. To have done this for such a short time and to already have a multiple Grade 1 winner like Knicks Go is very gratifying. We are excited to stand him at Taylor Made, and we look forward to his next career as a stallion."

An earner of $5,553,135 thus far in his racing career, the five-year-old son of leading fifth-crop sire Paynter is a Grade 1 winner from eight to nine furlongs and has run triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures of 113, 111, 108 (twice), 107, and 104, all in top company.

Knicks Go was bred in Maryland by Angie Moore out of the multiple stakes winner Kosmo's Buddy, a daughter of Outflanker and earner of nearly $300,000.

Kosmo's Buddy is out of the stakes-placed Allen's Prospect winner Vaulted, a daughter of stakes winner Aube D'Or who is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Countus In and multiple stakes winner Tulindas. Kosmo's Buddy excelled as a turf sprinter, while Vaulted was a multiple winner and stakes-placed at nine furlongs.

With his blend of speed and stamina, Knicks Go has recorded two track records at Keeneland, one of them in winning last year's Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, where he sizzled a mile in 1:33.85. He also established a course standard in his prep for the Dirt Mile, winning an allowance optional claiming race over an extended mile by ten and a quarter lengths in a brisk 1:40.79.

While Knicks Go is a leader in the handicap division, he was also precocious. He broke his maiden on debut in July of his two-year-old season, winning wire-to-wire by three and a lengths at Ellis Park. Knicks Go went on to capture that year's Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, running his rivals off their feet with a five and a half-length romp. He also finished second to eventual champion Game Winner in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Heading into this year's Breeders' Cup, Knicks Go has been in a class by himself. He proved uncatchable in winning the historic Whitney Stakes at Saratoga in August by four and a half lengths, defeating grade 1 winners Maxfield and Silver State with a 111 Beyer. The gray/roan crushed his rivals by ten and a quarter lengths in his prior start, taking the Grade 3 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap in July, earning a career-best 113 Beyer.

In the Grade 3 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs this month, Knicks Go toyed with the competition again, this time winning by four lengths geared down at the wire in his final prep for this year's Breeders' Cup Classic. His time for the nine furlongs was 1:47.85, about half a second off the 1999 track record set by Victory Gallop.

Among Knicks Go's signature wins was a record-setting triumph in last year's Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland. With regular rider Joel Rosario aboard, Knicks Go assumed his customary position at the head of the field shortly after the break.

He blitzed through fractions of :21.98, :44.40, and 1:08.25 before coming home an easy winner in track-record time with a Beyer of 108. The final clocking lowered Liam's Map's previous record of 1:34.54 set when winning the 2015 Dirt Mile.

"He really is what a horse is supposed to be," trainer Brad Cox said of Knicks Go. "They are supposed to get faster and stronger as they get older. He's a little bit of a throwback horse as far as accomplishing things early and then still being in training three years later."

Knicks Go's most lucrative victory to date came in this year's $3 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park. On his seasonal debut and his first start since winning the Dirt Mile, Knicks Go sped to the front at the break of the nine-furlong event and maintained a clear advantage throughout, ultimately scoring by two and three-quarter lengths. The tremendous effort earned a 108 Beyer.

Following the Pegasus win, Cox said: "Great horses do great things, and he just did something great."

Breeders' Cup Classic (Nov 6)

William Hill: 3 Knicks Go, 7-2 Essential Quality, 8 Hot Rod Charlie, Max Player, Medina Spirit, 11 Art Collector, 14 bar

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