Cox likes what he sees, says Knicks Go is go for Saudi Cup

Knicks Go got the green light to travel across the world for the Feb. 20 Saudi Cup after working Saturday at Fair Grounds and showing trainer Brad Cox and his team that he’s up for the trip.

Cox said last week he wanted to see Knicks Go work and assess his condition out of the drill before putting the horse on a plane, and Knicks Go displayed all the right signs. Knicks Go worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 and came out of his work in good shape, Cox said.

“He galloped out in 1:13 and three [fifths]. He’s a great work horse and he worked great yesterday,” Cox said Sunday afternoon. “He’s awesome – really good right now.”

Knicks Go wasn’t a major player on the national older-horse dirt-route scene until last fall, when he won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in a sensational performance. Knicks Go validated his BC Dirt Mile with an easy win in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup, showing he could carry his ample speed over 1 1/8 miles, but since the Pegasus was run Jan. 23, leaving a fairly tight schedule into the $20 million Saudi Cup, Cox wanted to make sure Knicks Go was continuing to thrive before confirming his participation.

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Knicks Go will be accompanied overseas by Cox’s son, Blake Cox, who works in the operation, and longtime exercise rider and former jockey Dustin Dugas. He flies Monday to Florida, where all the American horses bound for Saudi Cup races will assemble in advance of a Tuesday flight.

“He’ll probably breeze over there one time,” Cox said.

The Saudi Cup, run for the first time in 2020, is run over about 1 1/8 miles around one turn. Knicks Go will vie for favoritism with the Bob Baffert-trained Charlatan, who’ll be making the first start of his 4-year-old season. Other American runners are Florida-based Tacitus and Sleepy Eyes Todd, and Max Player, the latter also coming out of Fair Grounds. Mishriff, trained in England by John Gosden, also is an expected Saudi Cup runner; he won the Saudi Derby over the King Abdulaziz Racecourse dirt track a year ago before going on to capture the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club in France.