Cyberknife wins $ 1 million Haskell

OCEANPORT, N. J. » Coming into the $ 1 million Haskell Stakes, the focus was on Bob Baffert’s bid to win the Grade 1 race for a 10th time and fellow trainer Chad Brown’s attempt to prevent it with the undefeated Jack Christopher.

Al Gold, a New Jersey native who never had a horse good enough to run in the Haskell, stole the show.

Arkansas Derby winner Cyberknife made a bold move along the rail to pass Jack Christopher, then held off Baffert’s Taiba to win the Haskell at Monmouth Park on Saturday.

“I wanted to win for years and I’ve been an owner for 20 years, and finally we’ve got to win,” Gold said after winning a Grade 1 race for the second time this year. He had never won one before. “So it’s terrific. It’s indescribable.”

Ridden by Florent Geroux, the Brad Cox- trained colt ran 1k miles in a trackrecord 1: 46.24 in getting to the wire a head in front of Taiba and Mike Smith.

Jack Christopher, who had won all four of his previous starts for Brown, finished two lengths back in third in the field of eight 3- year- olds.

It was a popular win for Gold, a long- time fan and owner at the Jersey Shore track. He named the yearling Cyberknife because he had that type of procedure to cure a case of prostate cancer in 2021.

The win also secured a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic this fall at Keeneland.

Cyberknife paid $ 17.60, $ 5.20 and $ 2.80 in winning for the fourth time in six starts this year, and earing $ 600,000 for his owner.

Taiba, who returned to the Baffert barn this month after the Hall of Famer finished severing a 90- day suspension for the disqualification of Medina Spirit in the 2021 Kentucky Derby, returned $ 3.80 and $ 2.60. Jack Christopher, the 3- 5 favorite with Jose Ortiz riding, paid $ 2.20.

Long shot Benevengo was hurried to the lead at the start and led the field through the first six furlongs with Jack Christopher, Howling Time, Cyberknife and Taiba close behind.