By Stefanie Grimm
In a race initially billed as a showdown between this year's GI Pegasus World Cup winner White Abarrio (Race Day) and the up-and-coming 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Knightsbridge (Nyquist), Saturday's GIII Mr. Prospector Stakes turned into a parade for the latter as the Godolphin homebred took advantage of an overmatched field to earn his first graded stakes win.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. had been clear earlier in the week that White Abarrio was not 100% to start Saturday and, once that rail-drawn runner was officially scratched Friday, Knightsbridge was slammed into 1-5 favoritism. Named a 'Rising Star' for his 10 1/2-length unveiling at Churchill Downs in late 2023, the Bill Mott runner has embarked on a stop and start career that's seen him make just five total starts. Still, the talent has never in question as Knightsbridge has won three of those five by an average margin of nearly 7 1/2 lengths. Even his losses, a third in last year's GIII Perryville Stakes and second in his 2025 debut at Gulfstream this February, earned 90+ Beyer Speed Figures.
The Mr. Prospector was the first time Knightsbridge has strung two races together in such a short period of time as he exited a strong seven-furlong allowance win over a muddy track at Aqueduct Nov. 22. Earning the inside slot with the aforementioned scratch of White Abarrio, the favorite wasted little time taking control this field and opened up a length lead through the first furlong. He was joined outside by Wound Up (Mendelssohn) and Super Chow (Lord Nelson) as all three looked to take advantage of an easy opening quarter in :22.80.
The field stayed tightly bunched into the far turn but Knightsbridge never looked anything but a winner under a confident ride from Junior Alvarado. Both outside runners had their chance to take a shot at the favorite but were never truly a threat as Knightsbridge let out a notch passing the quarter pole and was well clear by the time the top three rolled into the final furlong. Super Chow, at 25-1 odds, did well to pass Wound Up and get into second but the winner was long gone as Alvarado had his mount geared down to the line in a final time of 1:22.32.
“It's been a long time,” said Mott. “Our target when he was a 3-year-old was the Pat Day Mile at Churchill, but in his last work before the race he came up with a little issue. It's happened a couple times with him. Hopefully, now, he's got everything in order. He's solid. He appears to have come back solid. We've been able to run back here in four or five weeks, whatever it was. Hopefully we can move forward from here.”
Alvarado added: “He broke very sharp today and he was cruising along pretty good for himself. I wasn't going to take it away. He just traveled all the way pretty nice and turning for home, I checked my reins a little bit just to see where he was and he leveled off at the end. He did what he needed to do today. It was a good prep race for whatever is coming ahead.”
Mott noted that the GII Gulfstream Fred W. Hooper, a one-turn mile on the Pegasus World Cup undercard Jan. 24, would be a likely next target for Knightsbridge.
“I think that's what we're shooting for,” Mott said. “There are also two stakes going a mile here we'd be interested in, and I think Speaker's Corner [Knightsbridge's half-brother] won them both.”
Pedigree Note:
The 22nd individual graded stakes winner for Nyquist, Knightsbridge is another feather in the cap for his unraced Bernardini first dam who has already produced GISW Speaker's Corner (Street Sense). A true Godolphin blue-blooded family, his second dam is MGISW Round Pond, purchased by the operation in 2007 at Fasig-Tipton for $5,750,000. Tyburn Brook is thus a half-sister to GISW Highland Falls (Curlin) and G1SW Long River (A.P. Indy) along with SW/GSP Lake Lucerne (Dubawi {Ire}). Knightsbridge is just his dam's fourth foal as she still has a weanling colt by Curlin in the pipeline as well as her unraced Street Sense 2-year-old of this year Lady Brompton. Tyburn Brook returned to Nyquist for a full-sibling to Knightsbridge in 2026.
Saturday, Gulfstream
PROSPECTOR S.-GIII, $150,000, Gulfstream, 12-27, 3yo/up, 7f, 1:22.32, ft.
1–KNIGHTSBRIDGE, 120, c, 4, by Nyquist
1st Dam: Tyburn Brook, by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Round Pond, by Awesome Again
3rd Dam: Gift of Dance, by Trempolino
'TDN Rising Star'. 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES
WIN. O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Junior Alvarado.
$91,140. Lifetime Record: 6-4-1-1, $289,545. *1/2 to Speaker's
Corner (Street Sense), GISW, $739,963. Werk Nick Rating:
A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Super Chow, 124, h, 5, Lord Nelson–Bonita Mia, by Warrior's
Reward. ($70,000 Ylg '21 FTKJUL; $75,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR).
O-Lea Farms LLC; B-Spendthrift Farm LLC (KY); T-Jorge
Delgado. $29,400.
3–Wound Up, 120, g, 5, Mendelssohn–Banker's Buy,
by Distorted Humor. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK
TYPE. ($120,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $280,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR).
O-David A. Bernsen, LLC, Mia Familia Racing Stable and Corey
La Russo; B-Kathryn Nikkel & Sanford Robertson (KY); T-Jose
Francisco D'Angelo. $14,700.
Margins: 4 3/4, 4 3/4, 2 1/4. Odds: 0.20, 25.10, 6.90.
Also Ran: Great Navigator, Playmea Tune, Hold My Bourbon, Lethal Speed. Scratched: White Abarrio. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
🏤 KNIGHTSBRIDGE ($2.40) takes them gate-to-wire confidently in the $150,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes (G3) at @GulfstreamPark with @JuniorandKellyA in the saddle for trainer Bill Mott and owner/breeder @Godolphin. Another graded stakes winner by @DarleyAmerica's Nyquist. pic.twitter.com/N4fAElHdtm
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) December 27, 2025
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