WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 KNICKS GO ADDS DASH TO A NEW HEIR TO WAR FRONT=S THRONE AT CLAIBORNE PAYNTER'S PALETTE by Katie Ritz War Front is undoubtedly heralded as one of America=s top turf sires, but Claiborne=s Bernie Sams said he finds any stereotype that the stallion is solely a grass producer unjustifiable. AI think War Front has been labeled to some extent as a turf sire, but unfairly so because he got his start with dirt stakes winners,@ he said. AThen a lot of people started breeding to him and taking a lot of them to Europe. He probably is equally as good on dirt as he is on turf, if we had as many of them here.@ Sams=s theory on War Front=s progeny comes to fruition in the versatile ability displayed by War of Will. Cont. p7 IN TDN EUROPE TODAY Knicks Go blazing home in the Breeders= Cup Dirt Mile UNIQUE ATTRACTIONS OF FLOORS BLOOD Breeders= Cup/Eclipse Sportswire Chris McGrath speaks to George Innes-Ker, the youngest son of the late Duke of Roxburghe regarding the dispersal of by Chris McGrath Floors Stud at the Tattersalls December Sales. Click or tap It's a tough game, selling nominations; and, except for those here to go straight to TDN Europe. sparkly new stallions, getting tougher all the time. So we should have every sympathy with the farms trying to drum up custom. True, WinStar doesn't hold back in introducing Paynter on his homepage as "one of the most popular and courageous runners in racing history." But if that's a pretty heady claim, even for a horse whose recovery from desperate illness so captured the hearts of the racing public, then the son of Awesome Again has certainly moved the conversation on. Because whatever else he may be, Paynter is now the sire of the fastest miler in Keeneland history--even as he takes his latest cut in fee, to just $7,500. Okay, they laid out a conveyor belt for the Breeders' Cup this year. Knicks Go, in the GI Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile, set only one in a blurred sequence of track records. (New benchmarks were also reached on the day at six, seven and 10 furlongs.) Even within that context, however, Knicks Go needs credit for the electrifying fashion in which he saw off a horse as fast as Complexity (Maclean's Music), kicking again off fractions of 21.98, 44.40 and 1:08.25 for a final time of 1:33.85. Bottom line is that we need to respect any stallion that can get a horse of such flair, out of Maryland, with first four dams by Outflanker, Allen's Prospect, Medaille d'Or and Cloudy Dawn. Cont. p3 -1 /2 The Only Horse In 2020 To Run A Negative Number On Ragozin. Faster than Gun Runner. Candy Ride's Best-Bred Multiple G1 Son. 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Director of IT/Accounting Ray Villa [email protected] BLUE BLOOD HONEST MISCHIEF RETIRED TO SEQUEL 10 [email protected] Juddmonte Farms’ immaculately-bred ‘TDN Rising Star’ Honest WORLDWIDE INFORMATION Mischief (Into Mischief) has been retired and will stand in New International Editor York at Sequel Stallions. Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 12 • THETDN.COM WEDNESDAY • NOVEMBER 25, 2020 Knicks Go Adds Dash to Paynter=s Palette cont. from p1 hard to say. Actually this is the second time Knicks Go has demanded a But then Paynter, from his second crop, pulled Knicks Go out fresh look at his sire. In 2018, following a low-key launch by his of his hat. After scoring on debut at Ellis Park, he appeared to be first juveniles the previous year, Paynter mustered just 34 mares put in his place when tried in stakes company, only to establish at $12,500. In fairness, if what is plainly a particular anything he had resisted the affinity with Keeneland by usual drag better than most winning the GI Claiborne young sires, having maintained a Breeders' Futurity S. by 5 1/2 book of 103 at $20,000 the lengths at 70-1. If that previous spring. That reflected a performance came out of the positive reception for that first blue, he then proved its crop at the yearling sales, where substance by heading over to they had parlayed his $25,000 Churchill and beating all bar opening fee into an average Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) return of $83,853. in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Having accumulated 438 While it is always true that a covers across his first three single star can outshine a seasons, however, Paynter was multitude of dimmer talents, seemingly now being drawn into Paynter had some useful volume the deadly commercial vortex so Paynter | Louise Reinagel behind him and finished behind familiar in a world where only Violence (Medaglia d'Oro) breeders flit nervously from new sire to new sire. Quite what in the second-crop sires' prize money table. He was back in the precocious detonation people had expected in Paynter's first game. After welcoming 97 partners in 2019, he kept solid juveniles, when both he and his sire had been unraced at two, is interest at 71 this year. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 12 • THETDN.COM WEDNESDAY • NOVEMBER 25, 2020 In the prevailing climate, admittedly, a further easing of his fee was fairly inevitable. But hopefully that will assist him through the gate that divides the stallion who's still trying to make his name from the one who can be considered relatively proven, while yet remaining highly accessible. That's an elusive combination, making Paynter's credentials seem well worth revisiting. The Dirt Mile success of Knicks Go has elevated his sire past Violence to head the fourth-crop table as the year draws to a close. But he would still be a clear second without his standard-bearer, who after all was otherwise confined only to a couple of allowance wins, eight months apart, following his transfer to Brad Cox. Given the stellar achievements of Violence this year, with Grade I winners from three different crops, it would have reflected very creditably on Paynter even to remain in his vicinity. The key now is for Knicks Go not to turn into a burden, by appearing freakishly out of line with the rest of his sire's output. Paynter has so far assembled another 14 black-type winners at a perfectly respectable ratio, to named foals, of 4%. (That's a match, browsing stallions at a similar stage of their careers, even for Union Rags {Dixie Union} and Dialed In {Mineshaft}--never mind many others who have not approached their excellence.) And if none of these are in the same league as his kingpin, the success of Harpers First Ride in the GIII Pimlico Special last month was his eighth in 15 starts. Liam O'Rourke, director of stallion sales at WinStar, emphasizes the solidity of Paynter's body of work behind his trailblazer. "I think it's important to recognize both aspects of his production," O'Rourke observes. "Paynter is able to get an elite, championship-level racehorse like Knicks Go and also have the depth to be the only top 20 general sire standing for less than $15,000. He's in the top 15 by winners, and just outside the top 10 (11th) by percentage of black-type horses. This combination should spell an upward commercial trajectory." One thing is for sure: nobody could be surprised that a stallion recycling the kind of genes packaged by Paynter should have come up with a horse as talented as Knicks Go. He is out of a full-sister to Tiznow, and therefore also to Grade II winners Budroyale and Tizdubai; not to mention their unraced sister whose own mating with Paynter's sire produced GI Preakness S.