Welcome to 2022 Kentucky Derby Prospect Snapshots, where we’ll take a look each week at a recent winner on the Triple Crown trail, usually from the Road to the Kentucky Derby schedule from which the race horses earn points toward qualifying.

The 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve will be held May 7, 2022, at Churchill Downs.

This week, we’ll take a closer look at Cyberknife, winner of the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby on April 2 at Oaklawn Park.

Cyberknife earned 100 points toward qualifying for the 2022 Kentucky Derby with that win and moved into fourth place on the latest Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

Racing Résumé: Outside of his stakes debut when sixth in the Lecomte Stakes Jan. 22, Cyberknife has been very consistent with three wins and two seconds in his other five races, including a disqualification from first to second in his career debut in September 2021 at Churchill Downs.

Cyberknife was in contention in the Lecomte before fading to a well-beaten sixth, 10 ½ lengths behind winner Call Me Midnight, but he has turned it around in two subsequent starts. He won an allowance-optional claiming race by three lengths at Fair Grounds Feb. 19 before making a powerful middle move in the Arkansas Derby on his way to a 2 ¾-length win.

For as promising as the Arkansas Derby win was – and make no mistake, this was a nice win – Cyberknife was a bit erratic at Oaklawn, where he unseated the rider before the race and drifted in, then out in the stretch. I also enjoyed watching his middle move a couple of times. He surged ahead on the backstretch, seemed to hesitate for just a few strides between horses, and then pushed on through early on the final turn.

Trainer Brad Cox’s patience has paid dividends this talented Gun Runner colt, who looks like he still has some more maturing to do in five weeks.

Speed Figures: Cyberknife has twice earned a 100 Equibase Speed Figure, once as a 2-year-old and in his allowance-optional claiming win following the Lecomte defeat. He declined five points to a 95 for the Arkansas Derby. According to Daily Racing Form, Cyberknife earned a career-best 92 Beyer Speed Figure for the Arkansas Derby, a five-point increase from his previous top.

The Beyer figure indicates he is closer to the top of the 3-year-old division, while the Equibase number shows he would need to take a significant step forward on five weeks rest to be competitive in the Kentucky Derby.

Running Style: Cyberknife has the cruising speed to stalk the pace and the push-button acceleration to improve his position in a hurry when given his cue by regular rider Florent Geroux. In recent years, tactical speed has become increasingly more important in the Kentucky Derby as the 3-year-old who crossed the finish line first in each of the last eight editions was third or better after the opening quarter-mile.

Geroux gets a handshake from Cox after the win. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Connections: Cyberknife is owned by Gold Square, the racing operation of Del Ray Beach, Fla.-based owner Al Gold, who also raced graded stakes winners Chace City and Little Miss Holly. Cyberknife gave Gold Square its first career Grade 1 win, however, the owners were unable to be in Hot Springs, Ark., due to unforeseen circumstances.

“We were happy to be alive, we tried to take a plane to Oaklawn Park, and the plane didn't make it. We had an emergency landing at the airport after being in the air for 15 minutes,” Gold told BloodHorse Sunday. “So, we decided to stay home and watch it on television. There were 30-odd people in the winner's circle, and I think I knew one of them.”

Brad Cox trains Cyberknife for Gold Square. The Louisville native on Feb. 21, 2022, officially became a Kentucky Derby-winning trainer when the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission announced that Medina Sprit was disqualified from the 2021 Kentucky Derby for use of a banned substance, which elevated Cox’s Mandaloun to victory after a months-long investigation. Cox has won back-to-back Eclipse Awards as outstanding trainer in 2020 and 2021. Last year, he also won the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets with Essential Quality and the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic with Knicks Go.

Regular rider Florent Geroux likewise earned a classic win via Mandaloun’s DQ victory in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Annually one of the leading riders in the country who has ranked in the top 10 by earnings in five of the last six years, Geroux was the regular rider of 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner and Cox’s two-time Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Monomoy Girl.

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Pedigree Notes: Cyberknife is from the first crop of 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner, who is off to a terrific start to his second career as a stallion with champion 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu and graded stakes winners Early Voting, Pappacap, Gunite, Wicked Halo,  and Cyberknife from his first crop to hit the racetrack.

Cyberknife’s dam (mother) is six-time stakes winner Awesome Flower, by Flower Alley. Awesome Flower was a stakes winner on turf and dirt at 1 1/16 miles and graded stakes-placed on both dirt and all-weather at 1 1/8 miles. She is from the family of 2009 Dubai World Cup victor Well Armed.

Derby Potential: My initial impression of Cyberknife’s Arkansas Derby win was that he looked a little like a big kid growing into his body in the stretch. I might like his long-term prospects better than his chances to mature enough mentally and physically in the next five weeks to win the Kentucky Derby.

There is bona-fide talent there with Cyberknife, but the Kentucky Derby more than almost any other race is a mental challenge with more than 100,000 screaming fans in attendance, a 20-horse field, multiple weeks of bedlam around the Churchill Downs backstretch, and any one of a thousand scenarios possible once the starting gates open. Cyberknife looks like a serious racehorse prospect with a very bright future. I’m just not sure he’s going to be ready to run the race of his life on May 7.

Cyberknife is one of several Derby contenders I will be watching especially closely in the three weeks leading into the race to see how he’s handling the stress at Churchill and training up to the race. It is very possible a lightbulb went on for Cyberknife in the Arkansas Derby and he starts to come into his own over the next 4 ½ weeks, which would make him significantly more appealing.