Tag: Brad Cox

The last time Echo Zulu ran came in this Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies romp at Del Mar in November. She returns Saturday as the 3/5 morning line favorite for the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks. (Image: Benoit Photo)

She’s Back: Champion Echo Zulu Returns for Fair Grounds Oaks

Echo Zulu was the 2-year-old everyone couldn’t wait to see run at 3. Now, the four-month wait to see the Champion 2-Year-Old Filly will end on Saturday when Echo Zulu leads a six-filly contingent into the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks. From a betting standpoint, horseplayers are likely to either […]

Plainsman (left) held off Thomas Shelby to win February's Grade 3 Razorback Handicap. Plainsman is the 3/1 favorite to win Saturday's Grade 3 Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park. (Image: Coady Photography)

With Cox Duo, This Essex One of Saturday’s Best Races–Anywhere

Two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox is skilled at keeping his front-row charges apart from each other – a skill he abandoned for Saturday’s Grade 3 Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park. Cox sends out a pair of millionaire multiple Grade 3 winners: Plainsman and Warrior’s Charge, for the 1 1/16-mile […]

Ce Ce's nose victory in the Apple Blossom two years ago was her first Grade 1 score. She is the 3/1 second choice in Saturday's Grade 2 Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park. (Image: Coady Photography)

Don’t Sleep on This Budding Mare Rivalry in Oaklawn’s Azeri Stakes

While eyes are on Tampa Bay Downs and its Kentucky Derby prep, Oaklawn Park offers up the juicy Grade 3 Azeri Stakes, starring an Eclipse Award winner and a mare who could eventually become one. That would be reigning Eclipse Award-winning female sprinter Ce Ce, who tangles with the Azeri’s […]

Joel Rosario and Knicks Go rode off with a combined three Eclipse Awards at Thursday night's Eclipse Awards ceremony at Santa Anita Park. Knicks Go won Horse of the Year and Champion Older Male Eclipses, while Rosario won his first Jockey of the Year Eclipse. (Image: Coglianese Photos/Ryan Thompson)

Knicks Go Rides Off With 2021 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year

True to his running style, Knicks Go broke out to a big lead and proved uncatchable, capturing the Eclipse Award for 2021 Horse of the Year when the Eclipse Awards were announced Thursday night at Santa Anita Park. The now-6-year-old horse received 228 votes out a possible 235 first-place votes […]

Perhaps Dash Attack needed muck like he conquered in the Smarty Jones last weekend in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes. The previous unbeaten colt finished fifth in the Southwest at Oaklawn Park. (Image: Coady Photography)

McPeek Trying to Figure Out Why Dash Attack Went South in Southwest

Dash Attack came into last Saturday’s Southwest Stakes as one of the Kentucky Derby prospects to watch. He came in as the unbeaten, 3.40/1 second favorite for the Southwest. He came out of it unscathed physically, according to trainer Kenny McPeek. As for his once-invincible aura? Not so much. Not […]

Knicks Go opened his 2021 season winning the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational. He hopes to close his stellar career becoming the first repeat winner in event history Saturday. (Image: Gulfstream Park)

Knicks Go, Life Is Good Make Pegasus World Cup a Two-Horse Race

A “happy, fresh, and full of himself” Knicks Go will defend his Pegasus World Cup Invitational title Saturday on the rail as the 6/5 morning-line favorite. That’s the result of Tuesday’s post-position draw for the $3 million Grade 1 event. The presumptive favorite to be named Horse of the Year […]

Mandaloun finished second to Medina Spirit in last year's controversial Kentucky Derby. He takes on rival Midnight Bourbon for the sixth time in the Grade 3 Louisiana Stakes at Fair Grounds Saturday. (Image: Coady Photography)

Cue Round Six for Mandaloun, Midnight Bourbon in Louisiana Stakes

The Louisiana Stakes, starring Mandaloun vs. Midnight Bourbon, sounds like deja vu all over again. And again. And again. And again. And, yes, again. This latest duel — the sixth between the newly minted 4-year-olds and 2021 Triple Crown rivals — returns the pair to Fair Grounds and the $150,000 […]

Concert Tour seeks a return to the form he showed last spring at Santa Anita Park. He finished last in his first race in eight months. (Image: Zoe Metz)

Cox Frustrated by Concert Tour’s Single Gear

Brad Cox knows the rules of engagement, which doesn’t make Concert Tour’s last-place finish in last weekend’s Fifth Season Stakes at Oaklawn Park any easier to digest. Losing by 15 lengths as the 3/2 favorite in the nine-horse Fifth Season field does, however, come with reinforced lessons. One of which being, […]

The 51st Eclipse Awards winners will be announced Feb. 10. Sixteen of the 17 finalist categories were announced Saturday. (Image: NTRA)

Few Surprises Revealed as Eclipse Award Finalists Announced

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association, National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, and the Daily Racing Form announced the finalists for the 2021 Eclipse Awards on Saturday. The list of finalists did not include Horse of the Year candidates, for which Knicks Go is a virtual certainty. Instead, finalists in 16 of […]

Home Brew finds himself the favorite in a deep, record-sized Smarty Jones field. The mile-race is Oaklawn Park's first of four Kentucky Derby preps. (Image Coady Photography)

Oaklawn’s Smarty Jones Packs In, Sends Out a Record-Sized Field

Whichever candidate wins Saturday’s Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park will get themselves a dress rehearsal for the Kentucky Derby and its cavalry-charge-sized field. Because, barring any scratches, the Smarty Jones will send out the largest field in event history with 14 horses. The one-mile Smarty Jones, the first of […]

Epicenter captured thi Churchill Downs maiden special weight last month. He is the 5/2 favorite to win the inaugural Gun Runner Stakes at Fair Grounds, Sunday. (Image: Coady Photography)

Inaugural Gun Runner Stakes Provides Epicenter of Week’s Derby Preps

There’s a certain symmetry, a certain karmic presence in Steve Asmussen sending out Epicenter as the 5/2 favorite for the inaugural running of the 1 1/16-mile Gun Runner Stakes at Fair Grounds. Whether Epicenter can follow in the hoofprints of Gun Runner – one of Asmussen’s best horses – remains […]

Knicks Go made the Breeders' Cup Classic look like a workout. He comes into his final race at next month's Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup looking for his ninth win in his last 11 races. (Image; Horsephotos)

Cox Looking Ahead at Knicks Go’s Pegasus Finale with Mixed Feelings

Brad Cox looks at Knicks Go standing in his barn. Then, the trainer looks ahead at next month’s Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational with a mixture of anticipation and sadness. Anticipation at seeing the likely 2021 Horse of the Year finish his career in a $3 million race that […]

Knicks Go breezed to victory in the 2020 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. He takes 5/2 morning-line favorite status for Saturday's $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic against a wealth of tougher contenders. (Image: Horsephotos)

Breeders’ Cup Classic: An All-Star Field With Numerous Possibilities

The first thing worth understanding about the Breeders’ Cup Classic is that it’s not kind to favorites. Unless you qualify for legend status, like Ferdinand, Alysheba, A.P. Indy, Cigar, Skip Away, Ghostzapper, Zenyatta and American Pharoah do. Last year’s winner, Authentic, was 5/1. Your favorite, meanwhile, was 3.20/1 Tiz the […]

Knicks Go is quite accustomed to being by himself down the stretch -- like he was here in August's Whitney Stakes at Saratoga. He won't lack for company when his stallion career begins at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky. (Image: Sarah Andrew

Knicks Go Headed to Taylor Made Stallions After Racing Career Ends

Knicks Go, the current clubhouse leader for 2021 Horse of the Year, will retire to Taylor Made Stallions in Kentucky at the end of his racing career, the farm announced in a release Monday. The stud fee for the four-time Grade 1 winner will be announced after next month’s Breeders’ […]

Gufo (right) held off a surging Japan to win August's Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga. The two turf rivals tangle again in Saturday's Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park. (Image: Sarah Andrew)

Consistent Casher Gufo Goes for Third Grade 1 Win in Joe Hirsch

There’s Gufo, who hasn’t missed the board in 12 career starts. There’s Japan, one of his rivals, who ships in from Europe for another crack at Gufo. And there’s Arklow and Channel Maker, who combined to win the last three editions of the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic. It’s […]

Knicks Go's 4 1/2-length victory in August's Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga set him up to run Saturday's Grade 3 Lukas Classic as a tune-up for the Breeders' Cup Classic. (Image: NYRA)

Is the Inaugural Lukas Classic an Impromptu Knicks Go Workout?

Knicks Go is back in his Churchill Downs stall, coming in off a resounding victory in one of the biggest older-horse races in the country. And he’s running against a familiar crew of competent, but hardly imposing, rivals. As Breeders’ Cup Classic tune-ups go, this one couldn’t come on a […]