Knicks Go will try to wire excellent group in Whitney
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As fantastic a field as is assembled for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga, the race basically boils down to one question. Can Knicks Go deliver another devastating, front-running performance in a two-turn race?
Knicks Go has won his last five starts going two turns, a streak that includes victories in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile last November at Keeneland, the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in January, and the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows in July.
“Knicks Go has thrown some freakish races that are just unbelievable,” said Bret Calhoun, the trainer of By My Standards, who is back for another try in the Whitney after finishing second in the race last year. “You go back to the Breeders’ Cup, those are races you see rarely in racing, a dominant race where he went fast early and kept running. If he brings that Saturday, what he did that day, everybody’s probably running for second.”
Knicks Go will likely be favored in a field of five that has combined to win 35 of 70 starts – 25 stakes – and earn more than $12.24 million.
Knicks Go, a 5-year-old son of Paynter owned by Korea Racing Authority, is 5 for 7 since being moved to trainer Brad Cox. His two losses have come in one-turn races – a fourth in the $20 million Saudi Cup and a fourth to Whitney contender Silver State in the Metropolitan Handicap.
Cox said that in the Breeders’ Cup, Pegasus, and Cornhusker, another horse tried to run with Knicks Go early “and they can’t keep up.”
“It’s a gift that he has that Joel [Rosario] has obviously let him run within himself but very quickly and he’s able to continue on,” Cox said.
Since the Cornhusker, Knicks Go has been training at Ellis Park. Cox said that Knicks Go is tough to handle in the mornings and that the horse’s regular exercise rider is based at Ellis for the summer.
Knicks Go will break from post 4 on Saturday.
Maxfield, a 4-year-old son of Street Sense, has won 7 of 8 career starts, his lone loss being a third in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap at 1 1/4 miles. He is coming off 3 1/4-length victories in both the Grade 2 Alysheba in April and Grade 2 Stephen Foster in June, both at Churchill Downs.
This most certainly looks to be the deepest field Maxfield has faced. He breaks from post 5 under Jose Ortiz.
“We can only go in there like we’re going in there, let him run his race and see if he’s good enough,” trainer Brendan Walsh said.
Silver State, a son of Hard Spun, has reeled off six consecutive victories, including a one-length score in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park on June 5. During his streak, three of his wins have come at one turn, three around two turns.
“He’s had very good success this spring at Oaklawn in two-turn races, but I love his one-turn races, better numbers,” Asmussen said. “I think the one-turn races allow him to be closer than his two-turn races.”
Ricardo Santana Jr. rides Silver State from post 2.
By My Standards may be the only member of this field not to have won a Grade 1, but he has runner-up finishes in both last year’s Whitney and this year’s Met Mile. In those races, By My Standards had trouble at the break.
Speaking of the Met Mile, Calhoun said that By My Standards “got run over pretty good from both sides a little way down the track.”
“I think the one-turn mile is probably a little bit less than his ideal distance,” Calhoun said. “Then, to get taken out and lose ground early on cost us plenty. He ran a huge race, but it was just enough to take us out of the opportunity to win.”
Calhoun said he’s had the Whitney on his calendar since last winter.
Trainer Ken McPeek only recently selected the Whitney for his filly Swiss Skydiver. McPeek had wanted to run her in the Shuvee on July 25, but his barn was in quarantine early in the meet due to a case of equine herpesvirus detected in another horse in the barn.
Swiss Skydiver hasn’t run since April when she was third to Letruska in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn. McPeek said Swiss Skydiver was dealing with a hind leg infection leading into that race. She then missed the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps due to a temperature.
McPeek said Swiss Skydiver is moving as well as ever and has been “devastating to her company” in morning workouts.
“That’s what she’s going to have to be on Saturday,” McPeek said.
The winner of the Whitney not only enhances his, or her, reputation, but also earns a fees-paid berth into the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 6.
The Whitney goes as race 10 on a 12-race card that begins at 12:35 p.m. and includes the Grade 1 Test for 3-year-old fillies; the Grade 1, $1 million Saratoga Derby for 3-year-olds; the Grade 2 Glens Falls Stakes for females on turf; and the $120,000 Lure on turf.