Paynter’s Knicks Go named Maryland-bred 2018 Horse of the Year

Knicks Go, winner of last autumn’s Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland, was named the Maryland-bred Horse of the Year for 2018 at the Feb. 12 Renaissance Awards in Baltimore.

Knicks Go, who also finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) in November at Churchill Downs, was bred by Angie Moore, who operates Green Mount Farm in Glyndon, Md. with her daughter Sabrina. 

An integral part of Paynter’s dynamic 2018 crop, Knicks Go helped propel his sire finish second on the Second-Crop Sire list for active North American stallions. Paynter’s five stakes winners accounted for seven stakes wins last year, and he has already gotten off to a good start this term with the 3-year-old filly Needs Supervision capturing the Silverbulletday S. at Fair Grounds.

Campaigned by KRA Stud Farm, Knicks Go was an $87,000 purchase at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and is out of Kosmo’s Buddy, a two-time stakes winner of nearly $300,000.