Page 36 - 23 November 2012

Fly The Red Eye broke his maiden on Oct. 2, 2009, at Lone Star Park.
Knox bought Fly The Red Eye in the aisle for $12,000, and when he walked
through the sale ring the closing bid was $22,000. “My husband and trainer begged me to sell him but I couldn’t,” she said. “When
I got home, I got offers as high as $30,000 but I still refused.”
She considers her refusal as life- saving for Little Red. The little colt ran
in a maiden race the next year and placed second—“by a tooth,” she says—and then despite vetting sound, his trainer
Judd Kearl felt something was off. Knox
ordered an MRI, which revealed a cracked femur. “I know if someone else had bought him, they’d have run him and
he’d be dead right now.”
THe NexT CHapTers
Over three seasons, Little Red won modestly on the track, so Knox started thinking about bringing him home. “I just couldn’t wait for
his race career to be over so I could bring him home and ride him myself!” she said. “And, I was trying to find a way to make this amazing, big-hearted little stud into something even more special than he already was.”
Knox met specialty halter trainer and judge Kathy Smallwood, also of Pilot Point, through mutual friends in 2011, and when Smallwood came by to look at Little Red, Knox expected nothing more than merely a laugh and a obligatory cuteness compliment.
Instead, Smallwood pointed out his many conformation strengths. “He’s a really unique individual,” Smallwood said. “He’s got a lot of
“I consider myself more an owner who hopes to be a breeder
someday.”
- Erin Knox, owner of Grade 1 finalist Run Naked (pictured)
34 SPEEDHORSE, November 23, 2012
Run Naked, shown winning a trial to the Sunland Park Winter Derby, is one of five horses Knox currently has on the track.
Kevin Coady: Coady Photography Reed Palmer Photography