Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Knicks Go continued to extend the legacy of a sireline that has had its fair share of success in the Breeders’ Cup over the decades.

Knicks Go is a son of WinStar Farm stallion Paynter, a Grade 1 winner and runner-up in the 2012 Belmont Stakes who endeared himself to fans by overcoming a serious illness to resume racing. Paynter, in turn, is by Frank Stronach’s homebred Awesome Again, who defeated a star-studded field that included champions Skip Away and Silver Charm to win the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockeys E.T. Baird and Florent Geroux were fined $5,000 each by Del Mar stewards Grant Baker, Luis Jauregui, and Kim Sawyer over the weekend for excessive use of the whip in Breeders’ Cup races on Friday.

The fines are the heaviest financial penalties for single violations since tougher whip rules were enacted by the California Horse Racing Board in October 2020. Since then, riders competing in California have been limited to six underhand strikes in a race and are allowed two strikes before pausing to allow their mounts to respond.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Though his victory in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar stamped Corniche as the early favorite for next May’s Kentucky Derby, it wasn’t a topic Bob Baffert was interested in discussing Sunday morning.

“We’re not going down that road, that’s a long way off,” Baffert said Sunday morning.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Pizza Bianca delivered for trainer Christophe Clement and owner and breeder Bobby Flay when she rallied through a crowded field to win Friday’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar.

Flay, the celebrity chef, bought White Hot, Pizza Bianca’s dam, for approximately $2 million as a yearling in England in 2014. By Galileo, White Hot, a half-sister to 2011 English Derby winner Pour Moi, did not race. Pizza Bianca is her first foal.

DEL MAR, Calif. - Loves Only You and Marche Lorraine, who gave Japan its first two victories in the Breeders’ Cup held Saturday at Del Mar, will soon be going their separate ways after being nearly inseparable training buddies for the approximately two weeks they were in Southern California.

DEL MAR, Calif. – A wicked pace derailed favorite Letruska in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Saturday at Del Mar, but the morning after her 10th-place finish trainer Fausto Gutierrez was looking forward to next year.

Gutierrez said Sunday that plans call for Letruska to campaign at age 6. “We need to be there at Keeneland,” Gutierrez said, referring to the 2022 Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 4-5. Letruska trained at Keeneland most of spring through fall. She won her only start over the track on Oct. 10 in the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes.

DEL MAR, Calif. - In a year in which Ce Ce won two Grade 1 stakes and placed in a third, trainer Michael McCarthy was a bit surprised the filly did not attain a spot as finalist for an Eclipse Award in the older dirt female division for 2020.

“This year, I had it in mind that wasn’t going to happen,” McCarthy said.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The top runners from the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar on Friday, most notably the unbeaten Echo Zulu, will get vacations before commencing their 3-year-old campaigns, with the Kentucky Oaks on May 6 at Churchill Downs the target.

The route many take to get there might depend on Echo Zulu’s plans. Can you blame them? Who would want to take her on quite yet?

DEL MAR, Calif. - Trainer Wesley Ward continued his dominance of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint on Friday, sending out Twilight Gleaming, Kaufymaker and the favored Averly Jane to finish first, third, and fifth respectively in the youngest race on the Breeders’ Cup agenda. And he is looking forward to bringing all three back for even bigger and better things in 2022.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Life Is Good was full of energy Saturday afternoon when crushing his rivals in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar, and he was his usual, good-feeling self on Sunday morning, trainer Todd Pletcher said.

“He’s very good this morning. I’m happy with the way he looks,” Pletcher said at his temporary barn office at Del Mar.

Life Is Good got a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 109 for his romping win, his first in a Grade 1 race.