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. First Mission (c, 3, Street Sense--Elude, by Medaglia d'Oro) earned a gaudy 96 Beyer Speed Figure sprinting on debut on the GII Risen Star S. undercard at Fair Grounds Feb. 18. And he didn't even get his picture taken. The Triple Crown-nominated Godolphin homebred fell three-quarters of a length short to his highly touted and Brad Cox-trained stablemate Bishops Bay (Uncle Mo) in a very live-looking, six-furlong...
Only one contender within the Top 12 was in action last week. But Sunday's news about 'TDN Rising Star' Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo) being declared off the GI Kentucky Derby trail left a void within the top tier that widens the gap between the juvenile champ and a cast of aspirants aiming to define themselves at longer distances. 1) FORTE (c, Violence--Queen Caroline, by Blame) 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable; B-South Gate Farm (KY); T-Todd Pletcher. Sales history: $80,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $110,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP....
T.C. Stevens, son of Hall of Fame Jockey Gary Stevens, will ride his first race as a professional jockey at Fair Grounds March 19 for trainer Steve Asmussen. T.C. has been named on Motown Missile (Mo Town) in the race six. A regular exercise rider for trainer Brad Cox, T.C. has morning rides on Instant Coffee (Bolt d'Oro), Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}), Zozos (Munnings), Strobe (Into Mischief), and Tapit's Conquest (Tapit). "I am very grateful to Mr. Asmussen and his staff for giving me this opportunity," stated Stevens. "I've...
When Hunter Valley Farm's Adrian Regan and Fergus Galvin purchased A Mo Reay (Uncle Mo) for $400,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton November sale, the plan was to add the filly to the farm's broodmare band, but a string of three straight victories in the Hunter Valley colors has postponed that trip to the breeding shed and had the operation celebrating its first Grade I triumph when A Mo Reay scored a dramatic last-gasp victory in the GI Beholder Mile at Santa Anita Saturday. "Adrian and another partner on the farm,...
Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 1st-AQU, $80K, Msw, 3yo, 6f, 12:50 p.m. Bought by Chenoweth Stables for $200,000 at the '21 FTKJUL auction, GLOBAL IMAGE (Liam's Map) was purchased by Taproot Bloodstock a year later at the OBSMAR after breezing an eighth of a mile in :10 1/5. Owned by Robert LaPenta and Madaket Stables, the Brad Cox trainee shipped to Belmont after training with his Churchill Downs string over the winter. Out of Ballerina S. heroine Class Included (Include), the gray colt will break from the three post with...
It continues to be a strange year on the road to the GI Kentucky Oaks. It's been a division where no one seemed ready to step to the front and become a clear leader of the group. That, sort of, changed Sunday in the GIII Santa Ysabel S. Sunday at Santa Anita. Faiza (Girvin) stayed undefeated in four starts with a 2 1/4-length win and, under normal circumstances, would have gone to No. 1 on this list. But the filly, who is trained by Bob Baffert and owned by Michael...
Andrew and Rania Warren's Raise Cain (Violence) exited his 7 1/2-length victory in Saturday's GIII Gotham S. in fine shape, according to trainer Ben Colebrook. The colt, who earned 50 qualifying points for the GI Kentucky Derby with his win in the Gotham, could return to New York for the Apr. 8 GII Wood Memorial or run in the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. at Colebrook's home base at Keeneland that same day. "We're based at Keeneland and if it wasn't for that, the Wood would be circled. I guess...
Last year's champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Forte (Violence) kicks off his sophomore season in the GII Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream Park, one of 14 graded stakes races on tap Saturday. The Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable colorbearer concluded his campaign with his third straight win at the top level in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland Nov. 4. "It seems like he's gotten even better and better since [the Breeders' Cup]," trainer Todd Pletcher said. "It's great to have won with the foundation...
They were already through the show ring and into the Keeneland pavilion, circling for their turn. Jody Huckabay knew that the dam's only previous foal, a Ghostzapper colt, had coincidentally been declared to make his debut at Churchill the same afternoon. Still more fortuitously, the rate of selling that session last September had now conspired to let him advertise their genes even as his half-sister by Flatter was strolling the back ring. "I couldn't see the race but had people watching," Huckabay recalls. "And suddenly my phone was going off,...
Don't Tell My Wife Stables' Confidence Game (Candy Ride {Arg}) exited his upset win in Saturday's GII Rebel S. in fine shape, according to trainer Keith Desormeaux. "He's happy," Desormeaux said Sunday. "He looks a lot more calm and happy than he was in that damn [indoor] paddock." The Rebel victory propelled Confidence Game to the top of the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 57 points. Confidence Game shipped back to Desormeaux's Fair Grounds base Sunday afternoon, but could return to Oaklawn Park for the GI Arkansas Derby Apr. 1. "For...
Gold Square LLC's Slip Mahoney (Arrogate) tuned up for the Mar. 4 GIII Gotham S. with a four-furlong work in :48.87 (6/54) over the Belmont training track Saturday. The gray colt worked in company with unraced stablemate Global Image (Liam's Map). "It wasn't as quick to watch it, but they moved pretty well," said Dustin Dugas, trainer Brad Cox's Belmont-based assistant. "It was really good and he came out of it in great shape and we're all systems go. Trevor [McCarthy] was happy with him and he's going to ride...
Since breaking her maiden two starts back over a sloppy track at Horseshoe Indy last fall and parlaying that into a win last time out in the Martha Washington S. over a wet-fast track at Oaklawn, Wet Paint (Blame) proved that her fondness for the off going was no fluke Saturday with a rousing win in the GIII Honeybee S. The new leader on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks with the 50 points earned Saturday giving her a total of 70 points, the Godolphin homebred broke a beat slow...