MD-Bred Knicks Go Draws Rail In Bid To Repeat At Pegasus World Cup

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Maryland-bred Knicks Go drew the rail in his bid to repeat as Pegasus World Cup champion, race organizers announced Tuesday.

The 6-year-old by Paynter out of Kosmo's Buddy will face off against eight other competitors at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, including one of the runners, Stiletto Boy, he beat his last time out, the Grade I Breeders' Cup Classic in November.

Knicks Go is the 6-5 favorite, followed closely by 4-year-old Life Is Good, winner of five of six races, at 7-5.

Sir Winston, winner of the 2019 Belmont Stakes, is also in the nine-horse field. Aside from Knicks Go and Life Is Good, no other horse has single-digit odds.

It was the 2021 edition of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes that propelled Knicks Go to his stellar campaign of five wins in seven graded races. The gray stallion jumped to the front of the pack under jockey Joel Rosario and never relinquished the lead, winning by 2 3/4 lengths.

Following that triumph, Knicks Go came in fourth place in the Saudi Cup and Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan Handicap before reeling off wins in the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap, Whitney Stakes, Lukas Classic Stakes and the Breeders' Cup Classic for trainer Brad Cox.

Knicks Go became the first Maryland-bred horse to win the Breeders' Cup Classic, one of horse racing's most prestigious races, since Cigar in 1995. The year before that, another horse from Maryland, Concern, won the Classic for owner and breeder Robert E. Meyerhoff.

Angie Moore and daughter Sabrina bred Knicks Go at GreenMount Farm in Reisterstown.

In December, Sabrina Moore told WJZ's Denise Koch was a bit stubborn as a foal.

"He was a tough baby but not in a bad way," she said. "He just kind of knew what he wanted and he did it."

On Tuesday, Knicks Go was named the 2021 Longines World's Best Racehorse.

Following the Pegasus World Cup, Knicks Go is scheduled to stand stud at Taylor Made Stallions in Nicholasville, Kentucky.