Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Red Knight looking for 12-furlong sweep
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland horsemen and fans often confuse the Elkhorn and Sycamore with one another. Both are 1 1/2-mile turf races for older horses, with the former being run in the spring and the latter in the fall.
Race names, however, mean nothing to Red Knight, a dominant winner of the Sycamore in October for Hall of Fame trainer
Bill Mott and jockey James Graham. The Trinity Farm homebred stamped himself as a potential major player in this division by following that victory with a sharp runner-up finish in his 2020 finale, the Red
news.nd Smith at Aqueduct – and that’s just the start of the good
Red Knight “has been training as well as I’ve seen him train this winter at Payson Park,” said Riley Mott, assistant to his father.
Red Knight, with Graham back riding, will break from the outside post in a field of
10 in the Grade 2, $200,000 Elkhorn, which anchors a solid Saturday card as the ninth of 10 races. First post is 1:05 p.m. Eastern, with the Elkhorn going at 5:30.
Red Knight, a 7-year-old
New York-bred gelding, has been first or second in 15 of 22 career starts, with his Beyer Speed Figures peaking last fall with a runner-up finish in the Kentucky Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs (101 Beyer) and a twolength triumph in the Sycamore (100 Beyer).
“He’s coming off a year where he was in career form and it appears that he’s carried that over to this year,” said Riley Mott, who worked closely with the gelding through the winter in Florida. “He’s had a series of strong works and I wouldn’t call fitness an excuse. It’s been fun to see him do so well physically and mentally as an older horse. Hopefully he can have a productive year.”
Red Knight can be expected to face stern challenges from a Mike Maker trio active all winter at Gulfstream Park, those being Tide of the Sea, Cross Border, and Monarchs Glen, along with the Red Smith winner North Dakota.
Tide of the Sea (post 6, Gerardo Corrales) is perhaps the most capable Maker entry, having won the W.L. McKnight before running second as the favorite in the Mac Diarmida. Cross Border (post 1, Tyler Gaffalione) comes off backto-back thirds in the Pegasus World Cup Turf and the Pan American, while Monarchs Glen (post 5, Joel Rosario) surely will be the longest-priced of the Maker threesome as a last-out claim for $62,500.
North Dakota (post 7, John Velazquez), trained by Shug McGaughey, has run once since winning the Red Smith at 8-1, finishing 10th in the Pegasus Turf.
Maker has won four of the last eight runnings of the Elkhorn, most recently with Zulu Alpha last July, when the race was delayed from its usual April date because of the pandemic.
Rounding out the lineup for the 36th Elkhorn are Say the Word, Crafty Daddy, Epic Bromance, Fantasioso, and Channel Cat.
Three allowances, races 2, 7, and 8, are among the other offerings on a program expected to be run under cloudy skies and with temperatures in the mid50s.
◗ Factor This, who earned $1,267,780 while winning 12 races, including four graded turf stakes, was scratched from a scheduled start Friday at Keeneland and has been retired at age 6, according to his owner, Gaining Ground Racing.