Godolphin’s homebred Knightsbridge dueled for the lead with Life and Times through the opening half mile before putting that rival away and drawing off through the stretch to win the G3 Fred W. Hooper Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, Jan. 24.
The victory marked the second straight Graded Stakes win for the five-year-old son of Nyquist, who took the seven-furlong G3 Mr. Prospector Stakes in front-running fashion in his prior start. Knightsbridge improved his record to 5-1-1 in seven starts and increased his earnings to $379,755.
Sent off as the 4-5 favorite from that Mr. Prospector win, Knightsbridge bounced away alertly from the gate and disputed the pace with Life and Times from the outside, as the duo zipped through an opening quarter mile in :23.64 and a half mile in :45.25.
Going nicely in hand on the turn, Knightsbridge edged to the front while still under a hold on the far turn, then began to open up on the rest of the field in the stretch. Knightsbridge cruised through the lane and to the wire to win by four-and-three-quarters of a length while being geared down by jockey Junior Alvarado.
Knightsbridge was bred in Kentucky and is out of the unraced Bernardini mare, Tyburn Brook, making him a half brother to multiple Graded Stakes winner and current Darley stallion, Speaker’s Corner (Street Sense). Like his younger half-brother, Speaker’s Corner also captured his first Graded Stakes win at Gulfstream, winning both the G3 Fred W. Hooper Stakes and G2 Gulfstream Park Mile prior to his win in the G1 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct. Tyburn Brook is out of G1 winner Round Pond, making her a half sister to G1 winner and new Darley stallion, Highland Falls.
Nyquist is coming off one of his strongest seasons in 2025, when he was represented by four G1 winners – Nysos, winner of the G1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, Cavalieri (G1 Beholder Mile), Velocity (G1 Del Mar Oaks), and Argos (G1 Summer Stakes).
Nyquist will stand the 2026 season at Jonabell Farm for $175,000, stands and nurses.
