Red Knight takes on Maker's gang of four in McKnight
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – In the heydays of Calder Race Course, the W.L. McKnight and La Prevoyante were races of considerable stature. Three-turn turf fixtures that attracted the best of their respective niches, they were stand-alone features around which memorable days of racing were built.
Times change, and now the McKnight and La Prevoyante are supporting events held eight miles east at Gulfstream Park, assimilated into the Pegasus World Cup undercard to bolster the importance of the day. There are worse fates for races of historical significance. Suffice it to say that their presence as twin turf marathons on Pegasus Day lends credibility to what has become one of the most important dates on the annual racing calendar.
W.L. McKnight (race 10)
Mike Maker couldn’t be blamed if he believes the McKnight is on permanent loan to him and his clients. After all, Maker has won the Grade 3, $200,000 McKnight every year since the 1 1/2-mile race was integrated into the inaugural Pegasus card in 2017, and he has every intention of maintaining his stranglehold on it.
Maker will send out four of the 12 older horses in this 52nd running of the McKnight, and although none can be easily proclaimed a likely winner, there’s something to be said for their collective strength – particularly with no obvious standout in against them.
Apreciado, Carom, Cross Border, and Temple represent Maker, whose reputation as a highly gifted horseman with older turf routers becomes further entrenched with each passing year. Some fans will make calculated stabs that his best chance this year begins with either Carom or Cross Border, both of them sharp two-back winners, but plenty of guesswork is involved there.
Red Knight, with Joel Rosario riding from post 1, is a lukewarm morning-line favorite at 3-1. A New York-bred gelding with seven wins and five seconds from 18 career starts, Red Knight has been a reliable player in these ranks over the last 13 months, compiling wins in the Allen Jerkens at Gulfstream and the Point of Entry at Belmont Park along with runner-up finishes in the Elkhorn, Johns Call, and Red Smith. His typical Beyer Speed Figures are in the 90s and a cut above the rest.
As always, pace will be critical as to how the McKnight unfolds. All four Maker runners appear capable of being on or near the pace from the start, while Red Knight tends to do his best from well behind. Perhaps the key pace factor is American Tattoo, an Argentine-bred 5-year-old who has never raced over grass but surely will take substantial action off a wire-to-wire victory in the off-the-turf Jerkens four weeks ago for Todd Pletcher.
Maker’s prior McKnight winners were Taghleeb (2017), Oscar Nominated (2018), and Zulu Alpha (2019).
La Prevoyante (race 8)
Clearly the most important variable in this 50th running of the Grade 3, $200,000 La Prevoyante is the readiness of Lady Paname, who returns from a 14-month layoff after announcing herself as yet another potential filly-mare turf star for Chad Brown when she captured her only two North American starts in the fall of 2018.
The mile and a half “is a long way to go off a long layoff, but she has plenty of works under her belt and seems fit enough,” said Brown, who on Thursday night was widely expected to be honored at Gulfstream with his fourth straight Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer.
“Bottom line is that she’s been training very well and we are happy to finally get her back to the races,” he said.
Lady Paname, with Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride from post 6, was diagnosed with a foot injury following her a rallying triumph in the Grade 3 Long Island at Aqueduct in November 2018. Since returning to the work tab in late November, the 6-year-old French-bred mare has been sent through nine breezes at Brown’s winter base at the Palm Meadows training center, all but one of them over the turf.
Nine others lay in wait. Foremost among them are the uncoupled Graham Motion duo of Mean Mary and Touriga, both of them last-out winners at shorter distances over the Gulfstream turf, and Kelsey’s Cross, who makes her seasonal bow for Patrick Biancone after taking part in major events in the 3-year-old turf filly division last year.
The wild card in the group is Simply Beautiful, a Coolmore shipper being treated with the bleeder medication Lasix for the first time. An upset from her would represent an ironic twist to the day, given that all raceday medication is banned from both Pegasus events.
