Arabian Knight Installed As 5-2 Morning Line Favorite For Saturday’s $1 Million, Grade 1 TVG.com Haskell Stakes
At 0h24, on July 20, 2023 • By MONMOUTH PARK
The highly-regarded but lightly-raced Arabian Knight will put his unblemished record on the line as the 5-2 morning line favorite in a field of eight talented sophomores in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park following today’s post position draw.
Kentucky Derby winner Mage was made the 3-1 co-second choice along with fellow Grade 1 winner Tapit Trice in the 56th renewal of the Haskell, which is a “Win and You’re In” for the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series.
Arabian Knight, a son of champion Uncle Mo and a $2.3 million purchase by Zedan Racing Stables, will be making his third career start. He is trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who is looking to add to his record nine Haskell wins.
“It’s exciting to win the Haskell. It’s a race where every year when I’m (evaluating) my 2-year-olds I always try to figure out who’s going to be my Haskell horse,” Baffert said by phone from his Southern California base. “The reason we’ve always been so successful there is because I always bring my best horses there. You need to do that if you’re going to win that race.”
Arabian Knight graduated from the maiden ranks with a dazzling gate-to-wire performance on the undercard of last November’s Breeders’ Cup, and for an encore made every pole a winning one in the 1 1/16 miles Southwest Stakes (Grade 3) at Oaklawn Park in his only other start on Jan. 28. The combined margin of victory was 12¾ lengths.
Hall of Fame ride John Velazquez has the mount.
