OCEANPORT, N.J. – The quirky, talented colt Cyberknife won the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby in April, but even then he gave his connections the sense there was untapped potential. Cyberknife was hardly the first horse to come undone in the stampede known as the Kentucky Derby, where there were two behind him and 17 in front of him at the finish. He came back to win the Matt Winn Stakes by a desperate nose over Howling Time, hardly considered an A-list 3-year-old, yet trainer Brad Cox pushed onward to the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell Stakes. And on Saturday at Monmouth Park, Cyberknife put it all together. Under a brilliant ride from Florent Geroux, Cyberknife outdueled Taiba to the wire, winning an exciting Haskell by a head. “I thought he was this type of horse since last fall. It’s all a question of getting him figured out – and I’m not even sure we have him figured out,” a laughing Cox said. “He can still be a handful.” Cox trains Cyberknife for New Jersey native and local resident Al Gold’s Gold Square, a longtime player in the Thoroughbred game. Gold, who named this colt, whom he called the best horse he’s owned, after the surgical instrument that helped him beat cancer, might have found his first Haskell win nearly as satisfying as winning the Derby itself. “This was the one,” he said. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. This was the second straight Haskell for Cox and Geroux, who partnered to win the 2021 renewal with Mandaloun. Mandaloun finished second last year but was placed first when Hot Rod Charlie, who crossed the wire in front, was disqualified for fouling Midnight Bourbon in midstretch. “This one feels a little more special,” Geroux said. “And it was a one-two finish from my favorite horse of all time, Gun Runner.” Geroux was the regular rider on Gun Runner, the 2017 Horse of the Year, who, as a stallion, has two crops of foals on the track, both Cyberknife and Taiba part of his first crop to race. Taiba ran gallantly in defeat, his inexperience betraying him – and perhaps costing him the race – when he came off the bridle on the backstretch. That Taiba could come back and miss winning by such a narrow margin validated the quality he evinced capturing the Santa Anita Derby. Meanwhile, Jack Christopher, the odds-on favorite, failed to see out the Haskell’s nine-furlong trip while making his first start around two turns. Jack Christopher, 4 for 4 to start his career, with Grade 1 wins in the one-mile Champagne last fall and the seven-furlong Woody Stephens in June, got right into the Haskell after breaking from post 7. Settling, he tracked the pace set by longshot Benevengo, who went in 23.50 seconds and 46.96, fast fractions in a vacuum but not especially so over Monmouth’s extremely fast dirt surface Saturday. Jack Christopher took care of Benevengo past the quarter pole and held the lead to the sixteenth pole, but could not contain the top two, finishing third, two lengths behind them. “We had him where we always do,” jockey Jose Ortiz said. “When I asked him, when it was time to run, he was going good, but he just got outrun. He was relaxed on the backside. He was going nicely. He wasn’t pulling me.” Jack Christopher had 4 1/2 lengths on fourth-place Howling Time, who was in the thick of things turning for home before fading. Behind him came Benevengo, King of Hollywood, a disappointing White Abarrio, and One Time Willard, a 63-1 shot who reared in the starting gate and then raced erratically into the first turn, nearly causing problems for Cyberknife. The Haskell card came on a scorching, sun-drenched day before a crowd 22,138. Betting on the 14-race card was strong, $19,896,953, up about $4.5 million from last year. Cyberknife, who paid a generous $17.60, now holds the Monmouth track record for 1 1/8 miles, 1:46.24; he was given a 102 Beyer Speed Figure. The previous track record, 1:46.43, had been set 2 1/2 hours earlier by Highly Motivated in the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup. Obviously, the speed of the track played a key role in these records, which both eclipsed the 1:46.80 mark set in August 1985 by Spend a Buck, who had won the Kentucky Derby earlier that year. All that aside, Cyberknife and Taiba both turned in strong performances. In the Matt Winn, Cyberknife had pressed the pace and battled through the homestretch with Howling Time, but Saturday he went into the first turn in seventh position. “He just needs a target to run at,” Cox said. “It makes all the difference with this horse.” Breaking from post 2, Taiba, trained by Bob Baffert, had the lead after a sixteenth of a mile before Jack Christopher and Benevengo crossed in front of him. Theoretically, that put Taiba in a good spot, but this colt had only three starts coming into the Haskell and hadn’t raced since the Derby. Passing the five-furlong pole, he dropped the bit and started spinning his wheels. “I couldn’t get him to run down inside,” Smith said. “He completely let go of me down the backside. Once I got him out, man, he jumped back into it and I said ‘Oh good, we got them now.’ ” They almost had them. Geroux was watching Taiba’s struggles and when Smith steered off the fence, Geroux took his spot. And he took it quickly, Cyberknife showing electric acceleration to move quickly into contending position. “I pushed the gas a little bit and he went instantly. He has the turn of foot of a turf horse on the dirt,” Geroux said. Cyberknife was loaded around the turn. At the head of the homestretch, Geroux went around Benevengo and feinted an outside move, then dove back to the rail. Cyberknife went willingly past Jack Christopher, then had to deal with Taiba, who was whipping home on the far outside. The pair ran their final furlong in under 12 seconds, rocking for 3-year-olds in a 1 1/8-mile dirt race. Cyberknife was just a little better. “I’m proud of my horse,” Smith said. “He has room to grow.” Cyberknife already has grown. A $400,000 yearling purchase out of the Flower Alley mare Awesome Flower, Cyberknife didn’t even win a stakes race until his sixth start. “Overall, he seems to be getting better,” Cox said. “He stepped up, proved he’s a true Grade 1 horse.” Is he also a Travers horse? Maybe. Cox wouldn’t commit to the race but said Cyberknife would leave Monmouth to join his Saratoga string. Taiba heads back to California on Tuesday.The Haskell is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In race offering automatic fees-paid entry to the BC Classic. Maybe Cyberknife and Taiba will meet there in November at Keeneland.