Three 2020 Kentucky Derby alumni meet again in Knicks Go Stakes
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There’ll be a reunion of sorts Saturday at Churchill Downs among Kentucky Derby alumni. Three of the also-rans in the September 2020 Derby are among the 12 older horses set to clash in the newly created Knicks Go, a $160,000 restricted stakes that kicks off the new all-dirt stakes pick five wager.
Necker Island (ninth), Major Fed (10th), and South Bend (15th) are the 5-year-olds who failed to threaten in America’s great race during that oddball year of the pandemic, but they’ve all done enough in the interim to have earned a spot in what shapes up as one of many competitive races on a blockbuster 14-race program.
The Knicks Go is for horses who have not won a graded stakes in 2021-22.
Brad Cox sends out Shared Sense, with Florent Geroux riding from post 2. Shared Sense can be expected to vie for favoritism with Dream Shake in the Knicks Go, which will be run out of the Longfield Ave. chute as a one-turn mile on the main track.
Cox trained Knicks Go, the ultra-fleet gray who only six months ago won the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar before ultimately going off to stud.
“It’d be pretty neat to win the first Knicks Go, wouldn’t it?” Cox asked.
A Godolphin homebred ridgling, Shared Sense earned a field-high 103 Beyer Speed Figure in winning a March 24 allowance at Fair Grounds.
“His breeze here last Saturday was really nice, so we’re hopeful,” Cox said.
Shared Sense can be expected to lag off a pace likely to be contested by Injunction and Frosted Grace, two of the longer-priced runners in the field. Dream Shake (post 4, Flavien Prat) also will be looking to settle into a prime stalking position as he stretches out from a sublime victory in a six-furlong allowance last month at Keeneland. Based in California, the 4-year-old colt was a prospect for the 2021 Derby before trainer Peter Eurton backed off, running the colt instead the same day in what became an epic renewal of the Pat Day Mile, which Dream Shake lost in a head bob following a torrid duel with the eventual sprint champion Jackie’s Warrior.
All three of the 2020 Derby alums have done their best work over the Churchill surface. Necker Island is 5 for 9 here; Major Fed is 2-2-1 from seven tries; and South Bend is 3 for 8. All three are stretch-running types who’ll be looking for things to fall apart up front.
The listed purse for the Knicks Go includes $65,000 in bonuses restricted to registered Kentucky-breds. All 12 are eligible for the additional money.
The Knicks Go is carded as the sixth race, with post time set for 1:14 p.m. Eastern. It’s the lead-off leg in a new 50-cent pick five wager, with a 15 percent takeout, that winds through the Pat Day Mile, the Derby City Distaff, the Churchill Downs, and the Derby.