Tag: Brad Cox

Warrant, seen here splashing home in May's Texas Derby. Sunday, he added the Oklahoma Derby to his resume, coming home by 1 1/4 lengths. (Image: Dustin Orono Photography)

Cox Issues a Warrant for His Third Consecutive Oklahoma Derby Victory

Brad Cox became the first trainer to win three consecutive Oklahoma Derbies, sending out Warrant to a 1 ¾-length victory in Remington Park’s flagship race on Sunday. Not only did Cox set a new bar for Oklahoma Derby conditioners, he tied Oklahoma training mainstay Donnie Von Hemel for the most […]

Essential Quality won the Aug. 28 Travers Stakes for his fifth victory in six 2021 races. That race serves as his prep for the Nov. 6 Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. (Image: Susie Raisher/NYRA)

Essential Quality, Knicks Go Take Two Roads to Breeders’ Cup Classic

Those of you wanting to see Essential Quality run again must wait until the Nov. 6 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Want to see Knicks Go? Trainer Brad Cox is a bit more accommodating. He’ll turn the 5-year-old loose in the Oct. 2 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs. Cox told the Daily […]

After Monomoy Girl sold for a record $9.5 million last November, she went back to training for her 6-year-old campaign. She was retired after fracturing a small bone in her leg during a routine gallop. (Image: Fasig-Tipton)

Two-Time Champion Monomoy Girl Retired After Sesamoid Fracture

Monomoy Girl, one of the dominant fillies of the 21st century, was retired from racing Wednesday after she suffered a fracture during a routine Tuesday gallop. Trainer Brad Cox said the 6-year-old mare and seven-time Grade 1 winner went out for a gallop at Churchill Downs on Tuesday morning. When […]

Can anyone stop the runaway train that is Essential Quality? Six others try derailing the 4/5 favorite in Saturday's Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga. (Image: Joe Labozzetta/Coglianese Photos/NYRA)

The Travers: Can Anyone Catch History-Making Essential Quality?

Brad Cox and Essential Quality are simultaneously chasing Travers Stakes history and running from it at the same time. This counterintuitive feat illustrates Cox’s training prowess, Essential Quality’s running prowess, and the Travers’ recent prowess as a destroyer of favorites. Cox, who trains the prohibitive 4/5 favorite for Saturday’s headline […]

Letruska has been the most impressive older female horse in 2021, as her last-out victory here in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis illustrates. She is the 6/5 favorite to win her fourth consecutive graded-stakes race in Saturday's Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga. (Image: Coady Photography)

Letruska Brings Formidable Form Into a Deep Personal Ensign Field

Say this for the 2021 Personal Ensign; Letruska may be the clubhouse leader as Champion Older Filly of the Year, but her rivals for that title don’t scare easily. That explains why the Grade 1 Personal Ensign – one of Saratoga’s six Grade 1s on Saturday — features a deep, […]

One-time A-list 3-year-old Art Collector won the Alydar Stakes at Saratoga for his first win in nearly a year. He travels to West Virginia ,where he's the 5/2 favorite for Friday's Grade 2 Charles Town Classic. (Image: NYRA)

Art Collector Leads the Redemption Brigade into Charles Town Classic

Art Collector is the 5/2 morning-line favorite for Friday’s Grade 2 Charles Town Classic at Hollywood Casino at Charles Races. And yes, it’s strange to read one of 2020’s top 3-year-olds is running in West Virginia and not in Saratoga this weekend. Art Collector’s path to the starting gate for […]

Mandaloun, who finished second to Medina Spirit in the Kentucky Derby, is is unlikely to race the remainder of the year after being diagnosed with a sore hind foot. (Image: Alton Strupp/Courier Journal)

Sore Foot Grounds Stellar Sophomore Mandaloun for Remainder of Year

Asterisk-wearing Kentucky Derby runner-up and Haskell Stakes winner Mandaloun will miss the remainder of the 2021 season, due to a sore hindfoot. The Daily Racing Form first reported the news. It quoted Juddmonte Farms racing manager Garrett O’Rourke, who said Mandaloun’s X-rays came back negative for any major damage. He […]

Luis Saez and Bella Sofia set the curve in the Test Stakes, winning the Grade 1 by 4 1/4 lengths on a record-handle Whitney Day card at Saratoga. (Image: Coglianese Photos)

Whitney Day Produces Record Handle, Another Knicks Go Romp

Knicks Go, Bella Sofia and State of Rest enjoyed Grade 1 victories on Saratoga’s Whitney Day card. And the New York Racing Association enjoyed a record, all-sources handle for that Whitney Day card. That record all-sources handle came in at $36,820,234, surpassing last year’s take of $35,796,435 that came without […]

Leave Knicks Go and Joel Rosario along and they wire the field, as they did in last year's Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. The 5-year-old is the 6/5 favorite to beat a small but deep field in Saturday's Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga. (Image: Coady Photography)

The Whitney: Quality Over Quantity Makes This the Year’s Best Race

The cliché “quality over quantity” washes over this year’s Grade 1 Whitney Stakes at Saratoga like the wake from Knicks Go’s last race. It floods the zone like Maxfield’s last two outings and Silver State’s last trip around Belmont Park. If you’re going to send only five horses around Saratoga’s […]

Monomoy Girl (6) lost this duel to Letruska (inside) in April's Grade 1 Apple Blossom. The Champion Older Female hasn't run since and isn't expected back until December. (Image: Coady Photography)

Recovering Monomoy Girl Doubtful for Breeders’ Cup Distaff Defense

While she returned under tack to WinStar Farm, defending Breeders’ Cup Distaff champion Monomoy Girl is doubtful for this year’s Breeders’ Cup. The two-time event champion and current Champion Older Female has been out since mid-April, recovering from muscle strains and hamstring issues. BloodHorse reported that Monomoy Girl isn’t expected […]

Louisiana Derby winner Hot Rod Charlie hasn't finished worse than third in his last six races. He looks for his first Grade 1 victory as the 6/5 favorite in Saturday's Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park. (Image: Jamie Newell/TwinSpires.com)

A Triple Crown Placers War by the Jersey Shore Headlines Haskell Stakes

The first thought that comes to mind when you see Mandaloun, Midnight Bourbon and Hot Rod Charlie lined up as the three headliners for Saturday’s Grade 1 Haskell Stakes is that deja-vu sense of familiarity. You’ve seen these three clash repeatedly, but there’s something else about them that stands out. […]

Arklow won his last start, the Grade 3 Louisville, in stakes-record time. He tries for his second Grade 1 win and 10th career victory in Saturday's United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park. (Image: Coady Photography/Churchill Downs)

Can the Remarkable Arklow Plant His Flag at the United Nations Stakes?

Figuring out the most remarkable element of Arklow’s career takes you on a trip around America’s racetracks in search of the freakish, most bizarre factoid you can find. So, it makes perfect sense that Arklow is one of the favorites for Saturday’s Grade 1 United Nations Stakes at Monmouth Park. […]

Bonny South prancings took her around the Midwest and Eastern tracks, including this Keeneland victory in April. She runs at her eighth track Saturday in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap. (Image: Anne M. Eberhardt)

Well-Traveled Bonny South Heads East for Delaware Handicap

If Thoroughbreds had passports that required stamps at every distinct race track, Bonny South’s would already need extra pages. Well-traveled? Bonny South checks that box. Meanwhile, she’ll check off another track Saturday when she comes into Delaware Park as the 3/2 morning-line favorite in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap. The […]

Mr. Wireless broke his maiden with this March victory at Oaklawn Park. He is expected to provide competition to favorite Fulsome in Wednesday's Grade 3 Indiana Derby. (Image: Coady Photography)

Fulsome, Mr. Wireless Pick Up Favorite Lines for Indiana Derby

There will be no Fulsome-O Besos rematch at Wednesday’s Indiana Derby. So playing the part of Fulsome’s erstwhile rival in the Grade 3 event is one Mr. Wireless. Your 4/5 morning-line favorite, Fulsome, heads the seven-horse field in what is Indiana’s richest horse race. The $300,000 Indiana Derby at Indiana […]

After consecutive fourth-place finishes, Knicks Go seeks a return to his dominant form in the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows. (Image: Derbe Glass Photo)

Knicks Go Looks for His Lost Form in Iowa’s Cornhusker Handicap

Brad Cox’s reasoning for taking Knicks Go from the bright lights of New York to the cornfields of Iowa is simple, even if the idea of running a multiple-Grade 1-winning, Eclipse Award candidate in the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap stopped most racing fans in their tracks. “I’m hopeful he’ll get […]

Set Piece, shown here winning the Prairie Bayou last New Year's Eve, took a big step toward breaking into the front rank of older male turf horses with his Grade 2 Wise Dan win Saturday. (Image: Coady Photography)

This Set Piece Scores Yet Again, Could Wise Dan be that Breakout Race?

Hidden on the Stephen Foster undercard last weekend at Churchill Downs was a horse who probably flew below your radar: Set Piece. He didn’t fly below bettor’s radars in the Grade 2 Wise Dan Stakes, however, going off as the 8/5 favorite in the 1 1/16-mile race for older horses. […]

Minnesota's Canterbury Park takes center stage Wednesday with its Northern Stars Racing Festival. Training stars such as Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox and jockey Florent Geroux will be at Canterbury. (Image: Canterbury Park)

Racing Stars Align at Canterbury Park’s Northern Stars Racing Festival

Track officials call Wednesday’s six-stakes card at Canterbury Park the Northern Stars Racing Festival. It’s a rather apt name, given the stars coming out to the suburban Minneapolis track. There’s Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox. Enough said there. There are also his fellow trainers, Mike Maker, who is currently sixth […]

Risen Star winner and Kentucky Derby runner-up Mandaloun looms as the one to beat in Sunday's Listed Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park. (Image: Jamie Newell/Racingfotos.com)

Mandaloun Looms Large and Fast in This Pegasus Stakes Field

Last year, the Pegasus Stakes ran as the final stop on the Kentucky Derby trail. As such, it enjoyed a large field, serious betting interest and more than casual interest from racing fans. This is a different Pegasus Stakes. Yes, it takes its five candidates – only five, mind you […]

Kentucky Derby runner-up Mandaloun returns from his six-week hiatus for the Listed Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park. (Image: Chad B. Harmon)

Kentucky Derby Runner-Up Mandaloun Returns for Pegasus Stakes

Vacation time is over for Kentucky Derby runner-up Mandaloun, who comes back from his six-week hiatus into favored status for Sunday’s Listed Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park. The reason for Mandaloun’s return to action doesn’t have to do with beating his four rivals in the 1 1/16-mile jaunt around Monmouth […]