Tag: Brad Cox

Lecomte Stakes winner Midnight Bourbon opens at 30/1 in the Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 2. (Image: Lou Hodges Jr./Hodges Photography)

The Field is Your Favorite in Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool 2

While Life Is Good yielded his favorite status in at least one Las Vegas future book, he holds down 6/1 individual favorite status in Pool 2 of Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Derby Future Wager (KDFW) pool. At the same time, the Derby field of “All Other 3-Year-Olds” is the overall 9/5 […]

Last time out, Shivaree set the Tampa Bay Downs stakes record en route to winning the Marion County Florida Sire Stakes. The runner-up in last year's Florida Derby returns to action Saturday in the Fred Hooper Stakes at Gulfstream Park. (Image: SV Photography)

The Pegasus Isn’t the Only Stakes Race This Weekend

Saturday brings us the first two Grade 1 stakes races of 2021: the Pegasus World Cup Invitational and the Pegasus World Cup Turf, coming to you from Gulfstream Park. The Florida track captures this weekend’s stakes spotlight with those two high-profile races, along with five other graded stakes on its […]

Winning the Breeders' Cup Classic two months after capturing the Kentucky Derby likely made Authentic the Horse of the Year. The 50th Eclipse Awards will be announced Jan. 28. (Image: Horsephotos.com)

Authentic, Improbable, Monomoy Girl Head Eclipse Awards Finalists

Horse of the Year candidates Authentic, Improbable, and Monomoy Girl headline the finalists for the 2020 Eclipse Awards, announced Saturday by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters (NTWAB), and the Daily Racing Form. The Eclipse Awards get their name from the iconic 18th-century racehorse and […]

Mandaloun brings a versatile running style into the closer's haven that is the Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds. The Into Mischief offspring is the 3/1 favorite in the Kentucky Derby prep. (Image: Coady Photography)

Lecomte Stakes: Kind to Closers, Anything but to Derby Prospects

The Lecomte Stakes takes center stage this week because it’s a Kentucky Derby prep, it’s a Kentucky Derby prep run in mid-January, and because there are some interesting candidates among its 11-horse field. Eventually, the wheat separates from the chaff, and races like the Grade 3 Lecomte start the Derby […]

Front-running Wells Bayou won the Louisiana Derby last year. He returns to Fair Grounds Saturday for the Louisiana Stakes, his first race in eight months. (Image: Amanda Hodges Weir/Hodges Photography)

Ex-Derby Hopeful Wells Bayou Finds Another Trail — the Comeback

Wells Bayou put himself on last year’s Kentucky Derby Trail with an electric, front-running style comprising equal parts promise and peril. Now, the reigning Louisiana Derby winner puts himself on the comeback trail in Saturday’s Grade 3 Louisiana Stakes. The $125,000 Louisiana is one of six stakes on Saturday’s Fair […]

After winning her second Breeders' Cup Distaff in three years last November, Monomoy Girl returns for her 6-year-old season Feb. 15 at the Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn Park. (Image: Coady Photography)

Monomoy Girl Starts Her ‘Monster’ Season at Oaklawn’s Bayakoa Stakes

Trainer Brad Cox called her “a monster,” but you probably know her as the best mare of her generation. Either way, Cox says you’ll see Monomoy Girl return Feb. 15 at Oaklawn Park for the Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes. The $250,000, 1-1/16-mile Bayakoa marks Monomoy Girl’s 2021 opener and a […]

Outadore led the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf until the final eighth. He makes his dirt debut in Friday's Springboard Mile at Remington Park. (Image: Coady Photography)

Springboard Mile Takes Would-Be Derby Hopefuls Off the Beaten Path

Outadore and Cowan aren’t atop anyone’s Kentucky Derby betting lists. Nor is the Springboard Mile at Remington Park atop anyone’s top-tier Derby preps. But, the Oklahoma track’s top juvenile stakes race does offer yet another glimpse at 2-year-olds chasing Derby points. The $200,000 Listed stakes Springboard Mile headlines a 13-race, […]

Factor This won the Muniz Memorial Classic at Fair Grounds in record time. He's looking for his fourth Grade 2 win in as many tracks at Saturday's Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale Stakes. (Image: Lou Hodges/Hodges Photography)

Fort Lauderdale Stakes Makes the Grade as Great Handicapper’s Race

Somehow, the Fort Lauderdale Stakes slipped through the grading cracks. How else to explain Saturday’s $200,000 turf battle at Gulfstream Park being “only” a Grade 2? With this field – eight of the 10 horses in Saturday’s Fort Lauderdale are stakes winners, six of those graded – the Fort Lauderdale […]

Monomoy Girl and Florent Geroux stood tall in the 2020 Breeders' Cup Distaff. just as they did in this 2018 Distaff victory. Even after selling for $9.5 million, the standout mare returns to the track in 2021. (Image: Darron Cummings/AP Photo)

Not Every Horse Retired in 2020: Here are the Stars to See in 2021

Now that we’ve bid farewell to the Thoroughbred standouts who retired in 2020, which horses will we greet as the returning equine stars worthy of attention in 2021? We bid farewell to Authentic, Improbable, Maximum Security, Vekoma, Tom’s d’Etat, War of Will, McKinzie, Serengeti Empress, Enable, and Ghaiyyath in recent […]

Red Flag and Victor Espinoza flew up the Kentucky Derby Futures Board with their 7 1/4-length breeze in Sunday's Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar. The Tamarkuz colt is 50/1 to win the 2021 Derby. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Wave Hello to Kentucky Derby Futures Board Newcomer Red Flag

He ran only seven furlongs, not the 10 that possibly awaits next May. Even so, Red Flag’s 7¼-length romp in Sunday’s Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar vaulted the juvenile from off the board to 50/1 on William Hill Nevada’s 2021 Kentucky Derby Futures Board. The $220,000 purchase by A&M […]

Authentic went gate-to-wire to win the Breeders' Cup Classic over an all-star field of Grade 1 stakes winners. (Image: AP Photo)

On Record-Setting Day, Breeders’ Cup Handle Takes Mild Dip

With Kentucky Derby champion Authentic, standout filly Gamine, and Knicks Go all winning Breeders’ Cup races in record time – and without general public tickets available – the Breeders’ Cup World Championships managed its sixth-highest all-sources handle since 2007. That was the year the Breeders’ Cup expanded to two days. […]

While Jackie's Warrior is the clear favorite to win the 2021 Kentucky Derby, Essential Quality is a viable second favorite at 20/1. (Image: Coady Photography)

William Hill Makes Jackie’s Warrior 2021 Kentucky Derby Futures Favorite

William Hill Nevada opened the first domestic futures pool for the 2021 Kentucky Derby, installing Jackie’s Warrior as the top choice among the 115 2-year-olds listed on its futures board. The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile favorite, Jackie’s Warrior opened at 15/1. He’s currently 14/1 at Bovada, which opened the Steve Asmussen-trainee […]

Even without spectators, Keeneland managed more than $148.2 million in handle during its just-concluded Fall Meet. It plays host to the Breeders' Cup in two weeks. (Image: David Coyle/Team Coyle)

Keeneland Wraps Fall Meet with Modest Handle Decline

With the Breeders’ Cup looming in two weeks as Keeneland’s worldwide close-up, the Lexington, KY, track ended its Fall Meet Saturday with a modest 7.5% drop in all-sources handle from 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Keeneland ran its 17-day Fall Meet without spectators. Yet the track recorded $148,229,708 in […]

A gutty, home-bred with good early speed, Rowdy Yates seeks to become only the third Oklahoma-bred to win the Oklahoma Derby. (Image: Coady Photography)

Oklahoma Derby Unveils an OK Field in the State’s Biggest Race

Two Kentucky Derby ex-pats won’t answer the bell, but the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby brings its share of recognizable names and decorated 3-year-olds to Remington Park for Sunday’s 32nd edition of the state’s biggest race. You won’t find Major Fed and Necker Island in the field. The two Derby runners […]

Wells Bayou will have plenty of time to cool down now. The Louisiana Derby winner and former Kentucky Derby contender is out with bone bruising. (Image: Lou Hodges Jr./Hodges Photography

Bone Bruising Sends Wells Bayou to the Triple Crown Sidelines

Right on the hoofprints of Maxfield’s injury and subsequent departure from the Kentucky Derby Trail, Louisiana Derby winner Wells Bayou suffered bone bruising that will keep him out of the Sept. 5 Derby. Currently third on the active Derby qualifying points ladder with 104, Wells Bayou breezed a half-mile in […]