Odds-on favorite Knicks Go wins Pegasus, eyes $20 million Saudi Cup
Knicks Go made it 2 for 2 in million-dollar races Saturday, winning the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park. The galloping gray made it look easy as the even-money favorite going wire-to-wire to win the 1 1/8-mile race by 2 3/4 lengths.
Knicks Go returned $4.60 on a $2 win bet. Jesus’ Team (11-1) finished second, just as he did behind Knicks Go in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.
The win is even more lucrative. Knicks Go received an automatic spot in the $20 million Saudi Cup on Feb. 20 at King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh.
Trainer Brad Cox and Knicks Go history
Knicks Go had won 5 of 17 starts and $1.34 million entering the Pegasus World Cup race. The victory earned his connections $1.74 million and took Knicks Go’s earnings to just over $3 million. Brad Cox is the trainer for Knicks Go, who has won four straight races since moving to Cox’s barn. That includes back-to-back Grade 1 races in his last two starts.
Jockey Joel Rosario has been aboard for Knicks Go’s last three wins, including the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile prior to winning the Pegasus World Cup.
That’s quite a turnaround for the 5-year-old, as Knicks Go had won just 1 of 10 graded stakes races prior to winning the Breeders’ Cup race in November.
In fact, Knicks Go raced just three times in 2020, and he won all three races under new trainer Brad Cox’s eye. But his final race in 2019 was a Grade 3 race at Churchill Downs, and Knicks Go finished 10th at 21-1 odds.
Trainer Brad Cox currently trains about 150 horses. His rise to success has been pretty remarkable since 2014. His horses won more than 150 races in 2015 and at least 200 in each year since. In 2020, Cox’s horses won a personal-best $18.98 million in purses, the second-most in the country behind Steve Asmussen.
