Brad Cox
In this continuing series, TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack catches up with the connections of promising maidens to keep on your radar. Sea Vista (c, 2, Street Sense--Sara Louise, by Malibu Moon) gained valuable racing experience in his unveiling, finishing second over a muddy, sealed track at Saratoga Aug. 3. The Godolphin homebred got the better of his Brad Cox-trained stablemate Immersive (f, 2, by Nyquist)--a smart debut winner earlier in the meet July 21--going four furlongs in :48 4/5 (40/118) at Churchill Downs July 27 and was one...
Fandom showed talent right from the start-winning by 6 3/4 lengths at Keeneland for Wesley Ward as a 2-year-old. A trip to Royal Ascot followed in the G2 Coventry Stakes but he weakened to 11th and went to the sidelines for nearly a year before coming off the bench back at Keeneland to take the Palisades Stakes Apr. 7. A barn change to Brad Cox after that start saw Fandom hit the board in the GIII Quick Call Stakes over course and distance July 14 and earned the son of...
GI Blue Grass Stakes winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) returned to the work tab Sunday morning for trainer Chad Brown ahead of an expected next start in the GI DraftKings Travers Stakes Aug. 24. The $2.3m FTSAUG grad, last seen second to another 'Rising Star' and champion in Fierceness (City of Light) in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes July 27, covered a solo half mile in :49 flat over the Oklahoma training track. "He worked super," said Brown. "He's come out of his last race well...
8th-Ellis, $73,000, Alw, 8-10, (NW1X), 3yo/up, f/m, 5 1/2fT, 1:00.73, fm, 5 3/4 lengths. ELLEN JAY (f, 3, Constitution--Covfefe {Ch. Female Sprinter, Ch. 3-year-old Filly, MGISW, $1,110,025}, by Into Mischief) broke her maiden by a nose at third asking over the grass at Ellis Park July 15. The 2-1 favorite here was quickest out of the gate and she established a clear lead up the backstretch. With some competitors on her back around the far turn, the homebred was poised to accelerate spinning into the turn. Her turn of foot...
1st-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 12:35 p.m. ET. Debuting upstate is 2-year-old NANTZ (Tapit)--a $600,000 purchase during last year's Keeneland September Sale. Owned by partners Repole Stable, Spendthrift Farm, Big Easy Racing, Titletown Racing, Rick Kanter, Golconda Stable, Ali Goodrich and Mark Parkinson, the Todd Pletcher trainee is the first foal for MSW Divine Queen (Divine Park). She's out of SW Town Queen (Williamstown), who also produced SW Queen's Award (Medaglia d'Oro) and the dam of MGSW The Player (Street Hero). Also set for his unveiling is Aviator Gui (Uncle...
Make that four in the row. Dragoon Guard (Arrogate), who just last time out won the GIII Indiana Derby, added another state's Derby to his resume Sunday night in taking the GIII West Virginia Derby in gate to wire fashion to stretch his win streak to four. Raced just once as a 2-year-old, the juvenile did well to finish second by a neck to SW Otto the Conquerer (Street Sense) at Churchill Downs during the September meet. Sidelined after that start, he returned as 3-year-old in April, breaking his maiden...
Millionaire Fulsome (Into Mischief-Flourish, by Distorted Humor) will shuttle to Chile in a deal brokered by Matt Bowling of Bowling Bloodstock and J.P. Sullivan of Sullivan Bloodstock. He will stand the Southern Hemisphere season at Haras Matriarca. The Juddmonte owned and bred colt broke his maiden in his sophomore debut before following up with wins the Oaklawn Stakes, GIII Matt Winn Stakes. Rounding out his campaign with a score in GIII Smarty Jones, he subsequently finished fourth in the GI Pennsylvania Derby. At four, annexed a trio of stakes, including...
7th-SAR, $100k, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, post time: 3:54 p.m. ET INVICTUS (Into Mischief), the first foal from 2019 GI Kentucky Oaks and 2020 GI Ballerina Stakes winner Serengeti Empress (Alternation), cost China Horse Club, Siena Farm and WinStar Farm $1.2 million at last year's Keeneland September Sale, and the Jan. 29 produce carries the WinStar colors for this first go. The bay, bred on similar cross to this sire's Grade I winners Life Is Good and Practical Joke, has been made the 3-1 choice on the morning line for...
On paper, there was a lot to like about Immersive (Nyquist) in Sunday's ninth race at Saratoga, a six-furlong maiden for 2-year-old fillies. She is by the top sire Nyquist, owned and bred by Godolphin and trained by Brad Cox. With those credentials, a short price might have been in order, but somehow the bay went off at 10-1. Looks like the bettors got this one wrong. After a perfect stalking trip under Manny Franco, Immersive won by two lengths and paid $22.80. The running time was 1:12.60 for the...
OCEANPORT, NJ-On paper, it appeared that a single horse, Idiomatic (Curlin), couldn't be beaten. That was until they ran Monmouth Park's GIII Molly Pitcher Stakes. Sent off the searing 1-9 choice in the scratched reduced field of five, the 2023 champion older mare stumbled a hair coming out of stall 6 as Kathleen O (Upstart) faced a much more dramatic misstep exiting the gate. While the latter was rushed into contention along the inside, the champion cruised effortlessly to the lead, doling out an opening quarter in a poky :25.57....
5th-ELP, $71K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 2:53 p.m. ET. TAPPAN STREET (Into Mischief), a $1 million-purchase at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale, makes his first start for CHC, Siena and WinStar. Trained by Brad Cox, the colt is the second to the races for GSP Virginia Key (Distorted Humor), who is also responsible for his older half-sister in-training Distorted d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro. Tappan Street's second dam, GSW Our Khrysty (Newfoundland), also produced GI Del Mar Debutante Stakes heroine Grace Adler (Curlin) and the recent GI Stephen Foster Stakes runner-up...
Making his first start around two turns and looking for a third straight victory in succession, Juddmonte homebred Dragoon Guard (Arrogate) was sent for the lead from his outside draw and made every pole a winning one in Saturday's GIII Indiana Derby at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Pegged at 7-2 on the morning line and sharing the grey/roan coloring that runs rampant in his pedigree (sire, dam, grandsire, damsire and damsire's sire), Dragoon Guard--off as the 19-10 second-elect--was given a positive ride from Florent Geroux and led his rivals into the first...