Paynter has pair in Pegasus World Cup

Knicks Go and Harpers First Ride finished their respective 2020 seasons with momentum. They will look to keep up that momentum for their sire, Paynter – a top 20 North American sire for the season – when they start in Saturday’s Grade 1, $3 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park.

Knicks Go, a Grade 1 winner as a juvenile in 2018, returned to his best form to win his three starts by a combined 21 1/4 lengths in 2020. Most recently, that included a 3 1/2-length score in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 7 at Keeneland, in which he set a track record.

Harpers First Ride, who, like Knicks Go, is a Maryland-bred, won seven of 11 outings in 2020. That included four of his five starts to end the season, including the Grade 3 Pimlico Special. He was last seen winning the Native Dancer Stakes on Dec. 26 at Laurel.

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The Pegasus duo are two of the four graded stakes winners sired by Paynter, a classic-placed Grade 1 winner himself. The son of Awesome Again gained a following as he overcame illness to return to racing and, eventually, to become a consistent sire at WinStar Farm in Kentucky.

“He is definitely a racehorse sire,” WinStar president and CEO Elliott Walden said. “I think as you get into the market like we’re in now, and people are starting to be a little more careful – I noticed in 2008 when that happened, that people gravitated toward proven sires that could help their mare. And Paynter definitely fits that mold.”