Knightsbridge works toward another test in Pacific Classic
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Knightsbridge, who has won three Grade 3 races by a combined 26 1/4 lengths this year, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.60 on the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga on Friday in advance of a scheduled start in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 22.
The $1 million Pacific Classic, the richest annual Thoroughbred race in California, will be Knightsbridge’s first start on the West Coast and first start at 1 1/4 miles.
In his last appearance, Knightsbridge won the longest race of his career in the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup at 1 1/8 miles by 10 1/4 lengths at Monmouth Park on July 18.
Trainer Bill Mott said on Friday that a mile and a quarter will be a “new test” for Knightsbridge. “He handled the nine” just fine, Mott said of the Monmouth Cup distance.
Mott described Friday’s exercise as a “useful work.”
“He looked good to me,” he said. “We’ve got to let him do something. We wanted to let him do enough so he’d be ready.”
Knightsbridge, a 5-year-old horse by Nyquist, races for Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin Racing and has won 7 of 11 starts. He is scheduled to be flown to California on Saturday.
Earlier this year, Knightsbridge won consecutive Grade 3 races at a mile at Gulfstream Park – the $175,000 Fred Hooper Stakes by 4 3/4 lengths on Jan. 24, and the $225,000 Gulfstream Park Mile by 11 1/4 lengths on Feb. 28.
In the spring, Knightsbridge finished sixth of 11 in the Grade 1 Churchill Downs Stakes on May 2, but rebounded to finish a respectable second to the now-retired Nysos in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile Handicap at Belmont Park on June 6.
Junior Alvarado is booked to ride Knightsbridge, Mott said.
In the Pacific Classic, Knightsbridge is part of a projected field of 13, including British Isles, Finger, Forged Steel, Full Serrano, Hit Show, Malarchuk, Navajo Warrior, Nevada Beach, Om N Joy, Original Sin, Subsanador, and The Goat.