Maryland-bred Knicks Go, a three-time Grade 1 winner as a 5-year-old in 2021, was voted the 2021 Horse of the Year and Champion Older Dirt Male Thursday, Feb. 10, at the 51st Eclipse Awards ceremony at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.
Multiple Grade 1 winner Knicks Go and 2021 Breeders’ Cup Sprint-G1 winner Aloha West have been named 2021 Eclipse Award finalists, with Knicks Go up for the Older Male division and Aloha West nominated for the Male Sprinter division.
Korea Racing Authority’s Knicks Go returned to his winning ways with a standout performance in the $300,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap-G3, leading gate-to-wire to win by 10 1/4 lengths on Friday, July 2 at Prairie Meadows.
Korea Racing Authority’s Knicks Go faced his toughest challenge to date heading into the $6,000,000 Breeders’ Cup Classic-G1, as he prepared to stretch out for the first time at the mile and a quarter distance while taking on seven of the country’s best distance horses. But the mounting pressure of the test ahead never seemed to phase the Brad Cox trainee as the speedy gray led gate-to-wire to clinch victory by two and three-quarter lengths over Kentucky Derby-G1 winner Medina Spirit on Saturday, Nov. 6 at Del Mar. In doing so, he became the third Maryland-bred in history to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, joining back-to-back winners Concern and Cigar in 1994 and 1995.
Reisterstown, Md.—The fourth annual Renaissance Awards, a collaborative effort between the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and Maryland Jockey Club, which recognizes excellence in Thoroughbred racing and breeding in Maryland in the past year, went virtual this year. Throughout the week of Feb. 22, awards were presented through the MHBA’s social media accounts to the top Maryland owner, trainer, jockey, breeder, broodmare and stallion, Backstretch Workers of the Year, one for Pimlico Race Course and one for Laurel Park, MTHA’s Unsung Hero, as well as the champion Maryland-breds of 2020.
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ Aloha West and Korea Racing Authority’s Knicks Go, the only two Maryland-bred contenders at this year’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships, held at Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, Calif., made history Saturday, Nov. 6, as they each won their races to mark the first time two Maryland-breds won on the same Breeders’ Cup card.
Korea Racing Authority’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile-G1 champion Knicks Go blazed into the New Year with a decisive gate-to-wire win in the $3,000,000 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes-G1 at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, Jan. 23.
Korea Racing Authority’s Knicks Go proved himself once again as he took on a talented field in the $400,000 Lukas Classic Stakes-G3, for 3-year-olds and up, and led gate-to-wire to win by four lengths at Churchill Downs on Saturday, Oct. 2.
PRESS RELEASE - January 21, 2021
For the second straight year, a Breeders’ Cup victory has propelled a horse to be named The Top Midlantic-bred of the year.
Korea Racing Authority’s Knicks Go never looked back as he surged to the lead in the 94th running of the Whitney Stakes-G1 and delivered a monstrous gate-to-wire victory, by four and a half lengths, at Saratoga on Saturday, August 7.
Knicks Go gave the performance of a lifetime as he led gate-to-wire in the $1,000,000 Breeder’s Cup Dirt Mile-G1 to win by three and a half lengths in track record time Saturday, Nov. 7 at Keeneland, becoming just the fifth Maryland-bred in history to win a Breeders’ Cup race.
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