One of the oldest jokes in the breeding industry is that nothing gets a stallion’s career to take off faster than getting exported. After standing at Taylor Made in 2022-2025, Knicks Go is now in South Korea. Whether the foals he left behind will take off as a group is open to question, but his daughter Luster certainly has. Now four-for-five lifetime, the Josie Carroll trainee scored the easiest of victories on Sunday in Canada’s premier filly Classic, the Woodbine Oaks, winning geared down by 5½ lengths over Dixie Law.
Knicks Go first caught the public eye by winning the 2018 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (USA-G1) but was unable to follow up on that form at 3 due to various issues. He came back with a vengeance at 4 and 5. The winner of the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (USA-G1), he set a new track record for Keeneland in that race and had set a record for 8½ furlongs at the same track earlier in the year. He was even better at 5, when his three Grade 1 wins included the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (USA-G1). The highweight on the 2021 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings at 129 pounds, he ran once in 2022, finishing second in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (USA-G1), before entering stud.
Knicks Go’s departure for Korea was not really a surprise, given that his owner, the Korean Racing Authority, had originally bought him with the intent of incorporating him into their plans for long-range improvement of Korean breeding. Given his uncommercial pedigree (Paynter x Kosmo's Buddy, by Outflanker), he was never likely to get much traction in Kentucky without siring some major juvenile winners in his first crop, and 2025 Saratoga Special Stakes (USA-G2) winner Ewing was not enough to give him that much of a bump, even though the stallion ended up second on the American freshman sire list by number of winners and fourth by progeny earnings.
Luster was a winner as a juvenile and has been showing steady improvement since then, with her only hiccup being a third-place finish behind Dixie Law in the Ruling Angel Stakes at Woodbine. She avenged that defeat in the Selene Stakes (CAN-G3) in her last outing before the Woodbine Oaks, leaving Dixie Law back in third. With her clear-cut Oaks win, Luster would appear to be in the driver’s seat in the race for a Sovereign Award in her division. She is the fourth Woodbine Oaks winner for Carroll, who also conditioned Inglorious (2011), Curlin’s Voyage (2020), and Kin’s Concerto (2024).
Bred by Ravi Sugrim and Joannie Dass, Luster is the fourth foal and second winner produced from Ruby Frost, who never raced and was purchased for just US$5,000 from the 2017 Keeneland November mixed sale. The daughter of multiple Grade 1 winner The Factor has produced only one live foal following Luster, the unraced 2024 Frac Daddy colt Whatsyoursismine, and was bred to Muth for a 2027 foal after missing in 2025 and 2026,
A half sister to multiple Grade 3-placed Swear by It (by Broken Vow) and restricted stakes-placed Shea Derby (by Street Sense), Ruby Frost is out of New York restricted stakes winner Jesse’s Justice (by Lear Fan), a half sister to Grade 3-placed multiple New York restricted stakes winner Willard Straight (by Lion Cavern). Jesse’s Justice is also a half sister to Queen of Battle (by Dance Brightly), dam of 2016 Jamaican champion sprinter Buzz Nightmare (by Into Mischief).
The next dam in the tail-female line, unraced My Reem (Chief’s Crown x Fabulous Salt, by Le Fabuleux), is a half sister to multiple English listed stakes winner Knoosh (by Storm Bird) and to stakes-placed Illusive Icicle (by Far North), dam of multiple Scandinavian listed stakes winner Federico (by Known Fact). My Reem is also a half sister to Fay Morgan (by Cox’s Ridge), dam of juvenile listed stakes winner Torey Ridge (by Danzatore).
Luster has a pedigree that is well balanced between speed and stamina elements, and her bloodlines combined with her Oaks performance lead to some interesting choices for her owners, Gainesway Stable (Anthony Beck) and Andrew Rosen. She could go against males in an attempt at landing the prestigious Oaks-King’s Plate double; she could try to sweep Canada’s Triple Tiara series for 3-year-old fillies; or she could venture south of the border to tackle American graded stakes fillies. Given that she ran the 9 furlongs of the Woodbine Oaks 1.18 seconds faster than the boys went in the Plate Trial one race earlier on the card, perhaps Canada’s current crop of 3-year-old males had better hope that she goes elsewhere,
Knicks Go first caught the public eye by winning the 2018 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (USA-G1) but was unable to follow up on that form at 3 due to various issues. He came back with a vengeance at 4 and 5. The winner of the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (USA-G1), he set a new track record for Keeneland in that race and had set a record for 8½ furlongs at the same track earlier in the year. He was even better at 5, when his three Grade 1 wins included the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (USA-G1). The highweight on the 2021 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings at 129 pounds, he ran once in 2022, finishing second in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (USA-G1), before entering stud.
Knicks Go’s departure for Korea was not really a surprise, given that his owner, the Korean Racing Authority, had originally bought him with the intent of incorporating him into their plans for long-range improvement of Korean breeding. Given his uncommercial pedigree (Paynter x Kosmo's Buddy, by Outflanker), he was never likely to get much traction in Kentucky without siring some major juvenile winners in his first crop, and 2025 Saratoga Special Stakes (USA-G2) winner Ewing was not enough to give him that much of a bump, even though the stallion ended up second on the American freshman sire list by number of winners and fourth by progeny earnings.
Luster was a winner as a juvenile and has been showing steady improvement since then, with her only hiccup being a third-place finish behind Dixie Law in the Ruling Angel Stakes at Woodbine. She avenged that defeat in the Selene Stakes (CAN-G3) in her last outing before the Woodbine Oaks, leaving Dixie Law back in third. With her clear-cut Oaks win, Luster would appear to be in the driver’s seat in the race for a Sovereign Award in her division. She is the fourth Woodbine Oaks winner for Carroll, who also conditioned Inglorious (2011), Curlin’s Voyage (2020), and Kin’s Concerto (2024).
Bred by Ravi Sugrim and Joannie Dass, Luster is the fourth foal and second winner produced from Ruby Frost, who never raced and was purchased for just US$5,000 from the 2017 Keeneland November mixed sale. The daughter of multiple Grade 1 winner The Factor has produced only one live foal following Luster, the unraced 2024 Frac Daddy colt Whatsyoursismine, and was bred to Muth for a 2027 foal after missing in 2025 and 2026,
A half sister to multiple Grade 3-placed Swear by It (by Broken Vow) and restricted stakes-placed Shea Derby (by Street Sense), Ruby Frost is out of New York restricted stakes winner Jesse’s Justice (by Lear Fan), a half sister to Grade 3-placed multiple New York restricted stakes winner Willard Straight (by Lion Cavern). Jesse’s Justice is also a half sister to Queen of Battle (by Dance Brightly), dam of 2016 Jamaican champion sprinter Buzz Nightmare (by Into Mischief).
The next dam in the tail-female line, unraced My Reem (Chief’s Crown x Fabulous Salt, by Le Fabuleux), is a half sister to multiple English listed stakes winner Knoosh (by Storm Bird) and to stakes-placed Illusive Icicle (by Far North), dam of multiple Scandinavian listed stakes winner Federico (by Known Fact). My Reem is also a half sister to Fay Morgan (by Cox’s Ridge), dam of juvenile listed stakes winner Torey Ridge (by Danzatore).
Luster has a pedigree that is well balanced between speed and stamina elements, and her bloodlines combined with her Oaks performance lead to some interesting choices for her owners, Gainesway Stable (Anthony Beck) and Andrew Rosen. She could go against males in an attempt at landing the prestigious Oaks-King’s Plate double; she could try to sweep Canada’s Triple Tiara series for 3-year-old fillies; or she could venture south of the border to tackle American graded stakes fillies. Given that she ran the 9 furlongs of the Woodbine Oaks 1.18 seconds faster than the boys went in the Plate Trial one race earlier on the card, perhaps Canada’s current crop of 3-year-old males had better hope that she goes elsewhere,
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