Brad Cox
5. ASBURY PARK (GB), 6/6, SAR, Race 8, 1 1/16 miles (turf), VIDEO Beyer Speed Figure- 85 (c, 4, by Frankel {GB}--Limonar {Ire} by Street Cry {Ire}) O-Peter Brant and St Elias Stable. B-St Elias Stable (GB). T-Chad Brown. J-Flavien Prat. Not surprisingly, Saratoga produced all five of these maiden graduates - three on Friday. Asbury Park got his race in just before heavy rain and powered away as much the best despite a slow pace, wide trip and an 9 1/2-month layoff due to shin issues. Brant bought the...
Sovereignty (Into Mischief) is on top. He got there by winning two of the most important races on the calendar for 3-year-olds. With his wins in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes, he leads the way because this is a sport where they're always asking, "What have you done for me lately?" But that doesn't necessarily mean that he's the best 3-year-old to have run this year. The last time Sovereignty lost was in the Mar. 29 GI Curlin Florida Derby. He didn't have any excuses. He just...
Godolphin's undefeated champion 2-year-old filly Immersive (Nyquist), off since winning last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, tuned up for her seasonal debut in next Saturday's Monomoy Girl Overnight Stakes with a four-furlong work in :49.20 (23/53) at Churchill Downs Sunday. The filly returned to the work tab at Churchill Downs in early May after being sidelined with bone bruising. Leading into the Monomoy Girl, she has posted six published workouts, including her latest move Sunday morning. "We're looking forward to getting her started again," trainer Brad Cox said. "She's...
One of the pieces to the handicapping puzzle that was this year's GI Kentucky Derby was just how Juddmonte Farm's Final Gambit (Not This Time) would handle a conventional dirt surface, having raced only on turf and synthetic tracks in his four starts prior to that. The homebred had punched his ticket to the Run for the Roses when exploding through the lane to dominate the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks Mar. 22, and he answered the surface question when making up a stack of ground--albeit behind a strong tempo--to round...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - When the phone rang, Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith was on the other end. "I'm on the treadmill," Smith said. Of course he was. Smith, who will ride 'TDN Rising Star' Rodriguez (Authentic) in Saturday's $2-million GI Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, has always been obsessed with working out. And, as he closes in on his 59th birthday (Aug. 10), he has no intentions of pulling the plug on his two-hour, five-day-a week workout schedule. Nor are there any plans to hang up his...
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Undefeated GI Kentucky Oaks heroine and Godolphin homebred Good Cheer (Medaglia d'Oro) will put her perfect seven-for-seven record on the line as she takes on six rivals in Friday's GI DK Horse Acorn S. at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course. The Acorn is one of six graded stakes races on Friday's 14-race program, which also features three other Grade I events--the GI Ogden Phipps S., a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar; the GI New...
Fionn (Twirling Candy) launched an impressive last-to-first rally to win Saturday's GIII Regret S. at Churchill Downs. The favored pacesetter Classic Q (Classic Empire) tired at the top of the stretch as Totally Justified (Justify) took over at the three- sixteenths. Fionn tipped out to the center in the stretch and powered home from there for a career high. Fionn capped a three-race winning streak in the Allen Black Cat LaCombe Memorial S. at Fair Grounds Mar. 8 and rallied for third behind next-out GII Edgewood S. heroine Nitrogen (Medaglia...
1st-CD, $141K, OC100k/C, 3yo/up, 1m, 5:00 p.m. ET. DRAGOON GUARD (Arrogate) turned in a strong 2024 campaign as the gray broke his maiden second out by 3 3/4 lengths at Keeneland in April then cleared an optional claimer at Churchill Downs in early June. The colt captured both the GIII Indiana Derby in July and the GIII West Virginia Derby in August before running third to Seize the Grey (Arrogate) in the GI Pennsylvania Derby at Parx to close out his season in September. Back on the work tab at...
Brendan Walsh earned the top prize of $50,000 in 1/ST Racing's $100,000 trainer bonus offered to horsemen for their participation in stakes races over Preakness weekend at Pimlico, the group announced via press release Sunday afternoon. Highlighted by runner-up efforts in the GI Preakness Stakes with GSW Gosger (Nyquist) and in the GII George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes with Paris Lily (City of Light), his charge Austere (Mendelssohn) came short of catching Charlene's Dream (Qurbaan) on the lead in the GIII Gallorette on the Preakness undercard. He started the...
Baltimore, MD--At approximately the time that the GII George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes was scheduled to run, a severe storm was rolling through the Baltimore area, blackening the sky and kicking up wind and rain that gave those running for cover the impression of an approaching apocalypse. With a steady stream of people dutifully filing out of the infield tents and into the safety of Pimlico's main structure, the rapidly-moving storm made enough of a fuss to have spectators wondering if racing would go on with two races remaining...
1st-PIM, $54K, OC62K/N1X, 3yo, 6f, 11:30 p.m. ET. In what amounted to a smart debut at Colonial Downs Mar. 15, VERIFIRE (Authentic) was confirmed as a 'TDN Rising Star' after the colt won by 6 1/4 lengths and posted a 92 Beyer. Initially a $260,000 Keeneland September purchase, John Stewart went to a $1-million to acquire the chestnut during the 2024 OBS March Sale. Verifire is out of SP Ruby Trust (Smart Strike), whose own dam is GSW Queen Ofthe Castle (Tale of the Cat). Resolute's second out starter is...
Godolphin's GI Longines Kentucky Oaks winner Good Cheer (Medaglia d'Oro) returned to training Tuesday at Churchill Downs and trainer Brad Cox said the GI Acorn Stakes on Belmont Stakes weekend at Saratoga could be her next target. "I thought she came out of the race incredibly well," Cox said. "If all goes to plan the next couple of weeks, we're looking at the Acorn for her." Good Cheer, now undefeated in seven starts, splashed home a convincing winner in the Oaks. Cox had a strong Kentucky Derby weekend, saddling Liberal...