Trainer McKnight coming south of the border to Oaklawn

Norman McKnight, a former Standardbred driver and trainer who is in the midst of his best year training Thoroughbreds, will be wintering at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., for the first time following the close of the Woodbine meet on Dec. 10.

McKnight is the second-leading trainer at Woodbine in Toronto. He plans to have a 20-horse division at Oaklawn, which opens Jan. 12. McKnight said the remaining runners in his stable will go on a vacation. The horses for Oaklawn will ship around Dec. 15.

“I did a little bit of research on a few different racetracks, and it just looked like Oaklawn was the best fit for the type of horses I had vs. the competition, vs. the purse money,” McKnight said. “It just looked like it was probably the best fit.”

McKnight, a 61-year-old native of Ontario, Canada, won his first Thoroughbred race in 1999 at Gulfstream Park. He has won 86 races from 272 starts in 2017 for stable earnings of $1.8 million through Tuesday. The numbers are up notably over his previous best year, which came in 2016, when McKnight won 59 races from 205 starts for stable earnings of $1.2 million. McKnight is the fourth-leading trainer in earnings at Woodbine this year.

“The last few years, we’ve hooked up with Bruno Schickedanz, a client,” said McKnight. “He’s been very supportive year to year. It’s probably like the fourth or fifth year we’ve been together. Each year, he seems to give me a few more horses, more support, based on productivity the previous year. He’s been helping the business grow.”

McKnight is chasing Mark Casse in the Woodbine standings, trailing 91-86 heading into Wednesday night’s card. The meet’s third-leading trainer, Kevin Attard, had 42 wins through Tuesday.

McKnight said he will have mostly claiming horses at Oaklawn.

“I’m expecting there’s going to be quite a turnover, based on what I saw last year,” he said. “They claimed about $5 million worth of horseflesh down there last year. They’ll be claiming, and I’ll be reclaiming, just a business and turnover type of thing.”

:: Get extended Cyber Monday discounts on PPs, digital subscriptions, and more!