Longshot of the Day: Race 8 at Turf Paradise

Track: Turf Paradise
Horse: #11 Knaughty Knight (8/1) use as win bet at 5/1 or higher
Race #8: 7:05 PM ET
Conditions: $17K MSW going 5 furlongs on dirt for 3YO fillies

Analysis: Let’s head to the sunshine of Arizona for a longshot today in their final race on the eight-race card. You know I love to target maiden races and Knaughty Knight checks a lot of boxes if you can get anywhere near the 8/1 morning line price. The Washington-bred daughter of Barkley has good pedigree for success at this level as she is the full sibling to Saleen G T who was a stakes winner at Emerald Downs won four of her first five races. Additionally, Knaughty Knight’s dam, Knight Club, has seen each of her previous foals go on to be multiple-time winners, so it’s great to see that type of production on the female family. On the track, Knaughty Knight debuted in a stakes race at Emerald Downs for trainer Howard Gibson back in July. She attracted quite a bit of support from the window going off at 9/2, but she spotted the field 18 lengths in the early going. It’s a credit to her that she made up a lot of ground and finished fifth but then went to the bench for some seasoning. I love that she shows back up here against maidens and has been putting in strong workouts at Turf Paradise leading up to her return to the track. Her last workouts are particularly impressive as she recorded a 47 second four-furlong work followed by a bullet five furlong work out of the gate that she completed in 1:00.1. Coming into the race she had another strong five-furlong work from the gate in 59.2 seconds. Seeing that type of gate speed and stamina leading up to the race is encouraging. She draws the far outside with jockey Blake Nunnally in the irons. Nunnally just needs to get her out of the gate in good order to have her show better speed than in debut. She has shown she can pass horses, so she doesn’t need the lead, but allowing herself to get a mid-pack trip will be the key to success today. Overall, you see a strong pedigree for early success, a horse that was ambitiously debuted, took money first time out, and is now working lights out coming back to the races.