Brad Cox won four stakes races over the weekend, including the GII Louisiana Derby and the GII Fair Grounds Oaks. But such a run of success has almost come to be expected from a trainer who never seems to have a bad week. Cox will arrive at Churchill Downs with an army of stakes-caliber horses, including threats for the GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Kentucky Oaks. The multiple Eclipse Award winning conditioner was our special guest on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.
Officially, Cox has won the GI Kentucky Derby. His Mandaloun (Into Mischief) was placed first in 2021 after the disqualification of Medina Spirit (Protonico) for a medication violation. But Cox says that was never the way he wanted to win a Derby.
“It doesn't feel like we won the Derby,” he said. “It's the thrill of victory and that's what you're after with the Derby. We weren't allowed to have that thrill. It's a very hard race to get into and it's like no other race in America. It's the only race where you have 20 horses. It's tough to just get in, let alone win. So, no, I don't feel like we've won a Derby. And I'm looking forward to this Derby for sure.”
He won the Louisiana Derby with Catching Freedom (Constitution), who was last early and had to overcome a slow pace up front on his way to a one-length win.
“I guess the difference is maturity,” Cox said of Catching Freedom. “His last two works before the Louisiana Derby were by far the best works he's ever had. He was kind of touting himself that he could be moving forward. He ran well. Before the Risen Star, his works were pretty average. Given the set up of the race and everything, I thought it was a huge effort.”
On Saturday, Cox will look to add to his Derby arsenal with Timberlake (Into Mischief) in the GI Arkansas Derby.
“He's an unbelievable physical,” Cox said. “He is a very, very good-looking horse. He always shows up. Maybe the Breeders Cup was a little rough because was a little keyed up. But he's learning. He's mellowed out and his works have gotten better in regards to settling the first part of them. I think he's definitely tighter and ready to go Saturday as opposed to the condition we had him in leading up to the Rebel.
In our breeding spotlight section, we looked at the Coolmore stallion American Pharoah and the WinStar stallion Constitution.
Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders' Association, Coolmore,https://pabred.com/https://www.kentuckybred.org/https://www.nyrabets.com/ 1/ST Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds, WinStar, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and XBTV.com, the team of Randy Moss, Bill Finley and T.D. Thornton discussed the news coming out of California, where Santa Anita is trying to find a formula that improves its bottom line and the Northern California circuit is striving to staying alive.
We also previewed the stakes coming up this weekend and reviewed last weekend's action.
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