Knicks Go

Presented virtually the week of Feb. 22, the fourth annual Renaissance Awards, a collaborative effort between the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and Maryland Jockey Club, was highlighted by Knicks Go (Paynter) earning the title of Maryland Horse of the Year and champion older horse for the 2020 season. Owned by Korea Racing Authority and trained by Brad H. Cox, the grey capped off an impressive year with a victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland in November. He is only the fifth Maryland-bred...

Three days after racking up yet another monumental win in a career chock full of them, legendary trainer John Gosden joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland Tuesday morning. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Gosden explained how he got Saudi Cup hero Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) to be as brilliant on dirt as he is on turf, what made his five-time champion Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) such a phenomenon, how his roots of training in California in the 1980s informed...

The $20-million Saudi Cup had been billed as a showdown between the brilliant American Grade I winners Charlatan (Speightstown) and Knicks Go (Paynter), but when the dust settled on the world's richest horse race it was the John Gosden-trained, Prince Faisal homebred Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) who stole the show to a raucous reception in his owner/breeders homeland. Breaking smartly from gate 12 under 21-year-old jockey David Egan, the G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner Mishriff-who also ventured to Riyadh to finish second in the Saudi Derby on this...

Knicks Go (Paynter) and Charlatan (Speightstown), a pair of major forces headlining the American racing scene in 2020, take on 12 others in Saturday's $20-million Saudi World Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse outside Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Both Grade I winners in their latest starts, the pair represent two of America's leading trainers, Brad Cox, who took home his first Eclipse Award last season, and Bob Baffert, a 2020 finalist who had previously annexed four training titles. Knicks Go, winner of the 2018 GI Breeders' Futurity S. while under the care...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—Pegasus World Cup and Breeders' Cup Mile winner Knicks Go (Paynter) will jump from gate five in Saturday's $20 million Saudi Cup, with key rival Charlatan (Speightstown) also drawn well in nine. Splitting the two in gate seven is Tacitus (Tapit), one of two horses in the 14-runner field to be starting in the world's richest race for the second time.  Commenting on the first international runner for the Brad Cox stable, the trainer's assistant and Knicks Go's track rider Dustin Dugas, said, "We like it, it's right...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—A number of trainers with horses engaged in Saturday's Saudi Cup have been unable to travel but their horses and exercise riders have shipped in, mostly over last weekend, for the second running of the $20 million contest at King Abdulaziz Racecourse. The 14-strong field includes two locally-trained horses, Great Scot (GB) (Requinto {Ire}) and Alzahzaah (KSA) (Worldly), who face competition from Britain, Japan and Bahrain as well as five runners from the United States. For most of the American contingent, stronger work had taken place on the...

On a monumental day in her personal life, star bloodstock agent Liz Crow joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday for an in-depth discussion. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Crow talked about her pride in the enormous success of her now dual-champion $100,000 purchase Monomoy Girl (Tapizar), the status of the sale market after a tumultuous 2020, what traits she looks for when buying horses and much more. "She's taken us on an incredible ride to so many different racetracks and...

Coming off a dominant win in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational, Knicks Go (Paynter) is scheduled to make his next start in the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 20 in Riyadh. "As long as he breezes well this weekend, we're going to the Saudi Cup," trainer Brad Cox said. "We plan to ship him out Monday [Feb. 8]." Cox said the decision became easier when it became clear that Knicks Go came out of the Pegasus in perfect shape. "The owners [the Korea Racing Authority] would like to...

Over 700 horses have been nominated for the 25th running of the Dubai World Cup night card on Mar. 27. Nineteen countries are represented among the 762 horses which resulted in 1,511 nominations. Leading the 176 nominations for the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup over 2000 metres on dirt is GI Pegasus World Cup hero Knicks Go (Paynter) for Brad Cox and GI Runhappy Malibu S. victor Charlatan (Speightstown) for Bob Baffert. MG1SW Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}) will also take part, while Godolphin fields undefeated Maxfield (Street Sense)...

There are few people in racing more qualified to speak on the health of the sport than Lane's End's Bill Farish. In addition to running the historic farm, Farish is on the board of the Breeders' Cup, chairman of the Horse PAC and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Keeneland Association, the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and the University of Kentucky's Gluck Equine Research Foundation. Wednesday, Farish joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland, calling in as the Green Group Guest of the Week to explain why...

The Week in Review, by Bill Finley After last year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic, it seemed that every horse that mattered had been retired and that 2021 was going to be a bleak year for the handicap ranks. But 23 days into the year, it is apparent that's not going to be the case. First, Charlatan (Speightstown) turned in a sizzling performance in his comeback race in the GI Runhappy Malibu S. and, exactly four weeks, later Knicks Go (Paynter) could not have won the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational...

Knicks Go (Paynter) rides a red-hot streak, including a career high in the Breeders' Cup, into Saturday's $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. at Gulfstream, in which he was installed as the morning-line favorite. An upset winner of the GI Breeders' Futurity S. back in 2018, the gray was transferred from trainer Ben Colebrook to Brad Cox at the end of a disappointing 2019 season. Romping by 7 1/2 lengths in his debut for Cox in an Oaklawn optional claimer Feb. 22, the Korea Racing Authority colorbearer was sidelined...