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Wild Knights Charges, Wins Rainy Steward's Cup Turf Dash
Original article written by Marzy Dotes posted 12 years 1 week agoWild Knights turned his undefeated streak to five races when he took the lead on the far turn and never looked back winning the $750,000 Grade I Steward’s Cup Turf Dash by 1 ¾ lengths over Indigo Eyes.
The spry black colt romped the 5 ½ furlongs on the soggy turf at Hot Springs Park in 1:03.79, a very impressive time on the course for a juvenile. Bred and owned by Scott Pho, Wild Knights is a son of the very hot sire Adjust the Sound who with two crops on the racing circuits, has 69 winners to his credit including 21 stakes winners. He’s also the sire of South Pacific Champion Two Year Old Colt Ambitiously who’s awaiting his date with destiny in the Steward’s Cup Turf Sprint after winning three stakes races in a row. Broodmare Angelina Road is a striking daughter of Knightsbridge Road who won stakes before producing five foals so far in the shed. So far Wild Knights is her best and he’s been setting the turf world on fire since he first appeared.
His works were fairly modest, two furlongs in 23.05 but he broke his maiden first time out and won his next race as well. But something was missing from his arsenal to truly make him break into the spotlight and as it turned out, it was a tongue tie which was added to his equipment in his next start, the Leprechaun Stakes. That made a lot of difference and he blazed a two length victory over Lover’s Rock taking more than a half second off of his six furlong time. He won the Dubliner Stakes after that which put him in great shape to take on the best that he could find in the Steward’s Cup. As sharp as he looked, cutting down in the distance run wasn’t going to hurt his chances.
But victories in high caliber races aren’t just given away and Wild Knights had to face off against a field of 14 lean and mean grass sprinters including Indigo Eyes. This elegantly carved black colt bred and owned by Irish Vine Racing is a son of African Champion Sprinter Snug who’s got 13 winners so far in his first crop of runners. Opal is a daughter of Hall of Famer Guitar and so far Indigo Eyes is her best foal on the track. Like Wild Knights, he won his first two starts and then decided an equipment change was in order.
Lasix turned out to be what was needed and he turned into a blazing spitfire of a horse taking nearly a second off of his racing time for six furlongs in the Scarlet Nite Stakes. His connections thought wow, and the excitement built as he added three more stakes wins to his credit in a fairly ambitiously mapped out campaign. With a blazing performance in the Favorite Tricks Stakes, would he hold onto that form in the Steward’s Cup?
Wanting the lion share of the purse himself was Calm On the Road who bred and owned by Tim Matthews, Jr. brought four wins in five starts to the starting line. The tiny but highly turbo charged bay colt is by South American Champion Two Year Old Colt Settle, a stud who’s been around a while. But even so, about a third of his progeny have yet to reach the racetrack and some breeders have been taking a second look at this sire. The Bus Driver, a stake winning daughter of A Bus has produced some nice foals including the stakes winning Ferrari California who was third in the Steward’s Cup Filly Turf Dash during her own career. Calm On the Road took a three race winning streak all in stakes into the Steward’s Cup including a stirring win in the Dashing Through the Green Stakes.
Jockey Byron Cooper who has ridden Wild Knights in all of his career starts poised confidently for photos before mounting his horse for the post parade. His cousin Matthew Cooper was on another entry, My Night a son of Perfect Night who was trying to get back on the winning track.
The rain poured down as the gates opened and the very feisty Roddy White, winner of the Barbados Juvenile Turf, shot to the front by a length over My Night while Wild Nights hung out in third. Calm On the Road and Indigo Eyes settled promptly into eighth and ninth.
As the horses romped through the bog in the backstretch, Roddy White pulled out into a two length lead over My Night who held a narrow advantage over the patient Wild Knights. But when the pack of horses reached the far turn, Wild Knights just had enough of playing nicely and he accelerated to the front by a head over Roddy White who had two lengths over My Night. Indigo Eyes had muscled himself up into the fifth spot while Calm On the Road had fallen back into the 12th position. This left the crowd wondering if he had been unable to handle the going but his jockey Rodney Wilcox was just being strategic in his placement for the looming stretch run.
Wild Knights charged into the homestretch as if he owned it but Indigo Eyes began to fire up his fiery kick and tried to close on the leader with Calm On the Road on his heels. The crowd dropped their umbrellas to cheer the horses home and Wild Knights held onto his win. Indigo Eyes took the second spot by 1 ½ lengths over Calm On the Road who finished third over Billow, another son of Settle.
The top three horses came out of the race in great order, shaking off the drenching rains to head off to their stalls for some rest and relaxation as the current racing season comes to its close. The juvenile turf sprinters of this year were a talented bunch and put on a brilliant display on their most important day in racing but still left plenty to be excited about next year.