By Bill Finley
By winning last Sunday's GI Saratoga Derby Invitational, Carson's Run (Cupid) secured a spot in the AUS$5-million Ladbrokes G1 W. S. Cox Plate on October 26 in Australia. In U.S. dollars, the race is worth about $3.3 million.
It's an invitation his connections are seriously considering.
“We're interested,” said Terry Finley, the managing partner of West Point Thoroughbreds, which owns the horse with Steven Bouchy. “It is a very lucrative package. I haven't talked to (trainer) Christophe Clement about it yet but we are definitely game. That's an awful lot of money for a 3-year-old grass horse.”
This is the second straight year in which the New York Racing Association has teamed up with the Moonee Valley Racing Club to offer the Saratoga Derby Invitational winner a spot in the Cox Plate.
“We need more sporting gestures in our business,” Finley said. “When it comes to that we're all guilty at times, of putting money ahead of being a sportsman. They were good enough to create the connection to this race with NYRA and we want to be respectful of that.”
No American-trained horse has run in the Cox Plate. In 2021, Irish trainer Joseph O'Brien pulled off the Saratoga Derby-Cox Plate double with State of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}).
Next up for Carson's Run will be the Aug. 31 GIII Nashville Derby at Kentucky Downs. The purse for that race was recently increased from $2.5 million to $3.1. Should Carson's Run go in the Kentucky Downs race that would give him a bit less that two months to prepare for the Cox Plate.
“It's a matter of how many times we want run him and the space between the races,” Finley said. “He's only run three times this year. I don't think that would be an issue. We could go to Kentucky Downs and then Australia and then get him ready for his 4-year-old year.”
One complication involving the Cox Plate is Australia's strict quarantine regulations. When racehorses come to Australia, they're required to complete 14 days of post-arrival quarantine.
Finley said that the final decision regarding the Cox Plate will be left up to Clement.
“It seems like everybody is trying to do more and more of this, linking races run in different countries,” Finley said. “That's good for racing. I think they're taking the lead from the Breeders' Cup when it comes to that.”
Carson's Run is named in honor of Carson Jost, who is battling Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. Jost's father, Wade, is a partner in Carson's Run and attended West Point with Finley. The late Cody Dorman, the inspiration for the name Cody's Wish (Curlin) also suffered from the same genetic disorder.
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