Knightsbridge aces two-turn test with easy Monmouth Cup win

Knightsbridge has faced several challenging trials while rising through the ranks of the older male division on dirt, but the 5-year-old came out the other side a dominant winner on Saturday at Monmouth Park. In his first start at 1 1/8 miles, the Bill Mott trainee romped home to win the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup by 10 1/4 lengths.

In a strung out field of five older males, the previously undefeated Money Game finished 19 lengths clear for second, easily outpacing the 12-time graded stakes winner Skippylongstocking in his first disappointing start of the year. Knightsbridge ruled over all, leaving Flavien Prat with little to do in a commanding gate-to-wire score. It was his first time aboard.

“Obviously, there was a question mark about the distance,” Prat said. “He broke well and I had him relaxed for most of the first part, then they pressured me in the first turn. I just let him run on the backside and try to get away from the pressure. After, he was with me every step of the way from there.”

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Last month, Prat rode Nysos to victory in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap at Saratoga, where Knightsbridge proved to be clearly second best in a four-length defeat.

Before the Monmouth Cup, Mott offered no excuse for his performance that day, but also noted that it was a clear improvement over his effort in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs in May, when he flashed early speed before fading to sixth. Prat also gave him grace for his last two efforts, as did bettors, who made him the 1-2 favorite Saturday. He paid $3 to win.

“He’s obviously a very good horse,” Prat said. “I was very impressed by his demeanor and his attitude. He’s a very good horse. He ran gallant races [in the past two]. Maybe the setup didn’t go his way.”

The work has not come as easily for the Godolphin-owned runner as it did over the winter at Gulfstream Park, when he swept three Grade 3 races and won the Gulfstream Park Mile by 11 1/4 lengths with a 112 Beyer Speed Figure. His two tests in Grade 1 company have not been especially fruitful, but with more distance at Monmouth, he has finally answered another question.

“He passed the two-turn test today indeed,” Michael Banahan of Godolphin America said. “If you’re trying the two-turn test, this is a great racetrack to do it because speed can carry. He had a little bit of pressure into the first turn. Flavien said he decided he’d best let him roll on a little bit and he’s either going to stay or he’s not going to stay. Thankfully, he got stronger as the race went on and put on a tour de force. It was fantastic.”

Skippylongstocking, the 2-1 second choice trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., challenged Knightsbridge early, ranging up and sitting just outside the pacesetter through an opening quarter-mile in 23.38 seconds.

By the time Prat and the front-runner completed the half-mile in 46.57, however, the pressure had evaporated, and no one else picked up the initiative thereafter. He completed the 1 1/8-mile race in 1:47.51, a statement victory that could expand his horizons going forward. Mott already has the Godolphin-owned Sovereignty and Baeza pointed toward the Whitney, but that does not mean Knightsbridge cannot explore other longer races.

“This will open up other opportunities for him down the road as well,” Banahan said. “That was the nice thing about today, to be able to see what else we could do with him. It’ll be exciting to sit down and have a chat with [Mott] and see where we’re going to go with him.”

Money Game, whose four prior victories were spaced out between 15 months, ran well in his first stakes start for Brad Cox, though he never got close to the winner. Irad Ortiz Jr. did all he could from fourth, picking up the pieces for a very clear second. Longshots Sergeant Capps and Kinetic never had a say, with Kinetic pulling up in the stretch.

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