Red Knight

Red Knight, a veteran Pure Prize gelding, broke through with his first graded stakes win in the Oct. 15, 2020 Grade 3 Sycamore Stakes for owner Trinity Farm and trainer Bill Mott.

He had kept good company in his 19 starts prior to the Sycamore, breaking his maiden in his second start in 2017 and then winning three allowance/optional claiming races during 2017-18. He captured his first stakes win in the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes at Gulfstream Park to close out 2018 and then remained competing in stakes races during 2019 and 2020, winning another listed stakes at Belmont Park and finishing second in three graded events.

He entered the Sycamore Stakes off of a runner-up finish to Arklow in the Grade 3 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup Classic and moved forward off of that effort under a well-timed ride by James Graham to win the 1 ½-mile race at Keeneland going away.

In his first two starts of 2021, Red Knight was sixth in the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes at Keeneland on Apr. 17, then finished second in the Grade 3 Louisville Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 15. He closed out the year with a trio of unplaced finishes.

Red Knight returned from a layoff of 11 months in July 2022 and began his career comeback at age 8 and posted a 1 ½-length triumph in the Colonial Turf Cup Stakes at Colonial Downs. He followed with a determined victory in the $1 million Kentucky Turf Cup Stakes Sept. 10 at Kentucky Downs, where he battled bravely to the finish line to hold off multiple Grade 1 winner Gufo by a nose. The win earned Red Knight an expenses-paid berth in the $4 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf via the “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series.

Red Knight closed out his 8-year-old season with a loss in the Grade 3 Sycamore Stakes in October at Keeneland, and finally with an 11^th-Place finish in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf at Keeneland.

Red Knight regained his winning form in his 9-year-old bow in the $200,000 W. L. McKnight Stakes Presented by Davidoff Cigars Jan. 28, 2023 on Gulfstream Park’s Pegasus World Cup undercard. With Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, Red Knight closed powerfully to complete the 1 ½ miles in 2:25.11 to win by length over stablemate Value Engineering. Subsequently, Red Knight was then second by a head in his next outing in the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes at 1 1/2 miles at Keeneland on April 22.

Evidently saving his best for his 9-year-old season, Red Knight was victorious in the Grade 1 $600,000 Man O' War Stakes at Belmont Park on May 13, 2023. Sent off as the 5.40-1 second choice on the tote board in a field of eight in the Man O' War, Red Knight was rated in last much of the race, moved four wide around horses on the turn, and made the lead in the final sixteenth to draw off and win by 1 1/2 lengths in a time of 2:13.74 for the 1 3/8 miles on a firm turf course with Irad Ortiz Jr. back aboard.