Brad Cox To Watch Pimlico Action From Keeneland, With Runners In Four Grade 1 Races

Brad Cox is loaded for bear this weekend at Pimlico with runners in eight stakes, but he will be watching the action from Keeneland.

“There are four Grade 1s here (in which we are entered), so I figured I'd better stay here,” said Cox, whose Grade 1 activity at Keeneland begins with Travel Column in Friday's Darley Alcibiades and concludes Sunday with Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Shedaresthedevil going in the Juddmonte Spinster. “I sent my son Blake and my assistant from Indiana Grand (Ricky Giannini) to Pimlico.”

Travel Column, owned by OXO Equine, will be trying to give Cox a second consecutive Darley Alcibiades victory following the 2019 triumph by Eclipse Award winner British Idiom.

“She worked with (Claiborne Breeders' Futurity-G1 entrant) Essential Quality last Saturday (at Churchill Downs) and it was the first time I had worked them together,” Cox said about Travel Column. “They went five-eighths in :59 and 4 and galloped out three-quarters in 1:12 and 2. I have done as much as I can with them in the morning.

“Now they have to get good trips. There are solid horses in both races.”

Godolphin, which won the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity with Maxfield last year, owns Essential Quality.

In Saturday's First Lady (G1) Presented by UK HealthCare, Cox sends out Beau Recall (IRE) for Slam Dunk Racing and Medallion Racing. Beau Recall is coming off a repeat victory in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2) last month in which she ran down First Lady rival Newspaperofrecord (IRE).

“She has had two maintenance works since and is doing well,” Cox said. “I hope she gets the same setup that she had the last time.”

Cox has a 24 percent win rate in 2020 and ranks second among North American trainers with $11,945,923 in earnings. On Saturday, in addition to Keeneland and Pimlico, Cox will have runners at Belmont and Hawthorne.

His Pimlico invasion begins Friday afternoon with Owendale, the 2019 Stonestreet Lexington (G3) winner, in the Pimlico Special (G3). His biggest guns Saturday are Bonny South in the George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan (G2) and Factor This in the Dinner Party (G2).

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‘Maturing’ Bonny South Headlines Field Of 11 In Black-Eyed Susan

An evenly-matched field of 11 fillies, led by graded-stakes winners Bonny South, Hopeful Growth, Perfect Alibi and Project Whiskey, are set to gather for the 96th running of the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G1) Saturday, Oct. 3 at Pimlico Race Course.

The 1 1/8-mile Black-Eyed Susan for 3-year-old fillies will be Race 10 on an all-stakes Preakness Day program, immediately preceding the 145th edition of the Preakness Stakes (G1). Post time for the Black-Eyed Susan is 4:41 p.m., and will be part of NBC's national television coverage from 4:30-6 p.m.

First run in 1919 as the Pimlico Oaks, the 1 1/8-mile Black-Eyed Susan was originally scheduled for May 15 in its traditional spot on Preakness eve, but both races were subsequently rescheduled amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the Black-Eyed Susan repositioned on the Preakness undercard.

Nine horses to win the Black-Eyed Susan have gone on to be named champion 3-year-old filly including Hall of Famers Twilight Tear, Davona Dale, Serena's Song, Silverbulletday and Royal Delta. Among other prominent winners are Hall of Famer Gallorette; Nellie Morse, the only filly to also win the Preakness, in 1924; High Voltage, Caesar's Wish and Wide Country.

Post time for the first of 12 races Preakness Day is 11 a.m.

Juddmonte Farms homebred Bonny South was rerouted to the Black-Eyed Susan following the announcement in mid-August that it was to join the Preakness lineup. The chestnut daughter of multiple graded-stakes winning sprinter Munnings tuned up for the race with a five-furlong work in 1:01 Saturday morning at Churchill Downs.

Winner of the Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) in March, Bonny South was a closing second behind Swiss Skydiver in the 1 ¼-mile Alabama (G1) last out Aug. 15 at Saratoga and then bypassed the Kentucky Oaks (G1) Sept. 4. Swiss Skydiver is entered to face the boys in the Preakness.

“Since the Alabama she's done really, really well,” trainer Brad Cox said. “She's maturing. She's still somewhat lightly raced, only run six times in her life. I think we have yet to see the best of her. Hopefully, she'll take a step forward.”

Florent Geroux, up for both her recent work and the Fair Grounds Oaks, will ride Bonny South from Post 5 at 124 pounds, sharing topweight with Project Whiskey and Perfect Alibi.

Tracy Farmer's Perfect Alibi won the Schuylerville (G2) and Spinaway (G1) at 2 but has gone winless in five tries since, including a second in the Alcibiades (G1) and a fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) to cap her rookie season. She didn't get started this year until June and finished off the board in the one-mile Acorn (G1) and seven-furlong Test (G1) before running third by a length in the Sept. 7 Weber City Miss at Laurel, an automatic qualifier for the Black-Eyed Susan.

Trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Perfect Alibi drew outside Post 11 with jockey Paco Lopez.

St. Elias Stable's Hopeful Growth was fifth to Project Whiskey in the 1 1/16-mile Delaware Oaks (G3) July 4, but avenged that loss with a four-length triumph in the Aug. 1 Monmouth Oaks (G3). Most recently she was sixth to Bonny South's stablemate Shedaresthedevil in the Kentucky Oaks.

Hopeful Growth will carry 122 pounds including jockey Trevor McCarthy from Post 8.

Cash is King and LC Racing's Project Whiskey, who captured the Parx Juvenile Fillies last fall, was a determined half-length winner of the Delaware Oaks at odds of 38-1. She ran well to be a decisive second in the Monmouth Oaks and got within four lengths of the lead midway through the Weber City Miss before tiring to be last of nine.

“She hasn't run well at Laurel, so we're not sure if she just doesn't like the surface too much,” trainer Robert E. 'Butch' Reid Jr. said. “She didn't get away clean and got back a little further than she normally is and had to eat some dirt, and it wasn't to her liking.

“She came out of her race like she never even ran,” he added. “We're going to give her a mulligan on that one and look for better things because she's training perfectly. So, we're going to take another shot.”

Victor Carrasco has the call on Project Whiskey from Post 1.

Three horses – Landing Zone, Miss Marissa and Mizzen Beau – enter the Black-Eyed Susan off victories. Alfonso Cammarota's Miss Marissa has won two straight including a front-running optional claiming allowance going 1 1/8 miles Aug. 13 at Saratoga, while Mizzen Beau captured the 1 1/16-mile Bison City over Woodbine's all-weather surface Sept. 12.

BB Horses Landing Zone takes a three-race win streak into the Black-Eyed Susan for Maryland's three-time defending leading trainer Claudio Gonzalez. The Morning Line filly has stretched out from 5 ½ furlongs to a mile to one mile and 70 yards in each of her victories, which have come by 16 ¾ combined lengths.

“The last two races have been really big and we decide with the owner to take shot in the big race,” Gonzalez said. ““I believe the longer races, she's more relaxed and she likes it more. In the morning when she breezes, she looks good. Sometimes she beats the good fillies and in the afternoon she wasn't showing what she was in the morning. That's why I told the owner I want to figure out what is the best I can do to change something and when we did, she likes it.”

Landing Zone went gate to wire to win by 11 lengths at Delaware Park Aug. 31, following up with a 3 ½-length triumph over Black-Eyed Susan rival So Darn Hot Sept. 10. Gonzalez claimed her for $25,000 out of a runner-up finish sprinting six furlongs last November at Laurel.

“I claimed her last year and she was very nervous for everything. Now she's more mature and she looks better and not nervous like before, even in the paddock,” Gonzalez said. “That's why she improved a lot. Now we can train her different and she likes it. She's showing me now in her last few races. Her last few races have been really good.”

Angel Cruz will ride Landing Zone for her stakes debut from Post 10.

“It's very exciting for me. Horses [that cost] a lot of money, I don't have horses like that. But I try to claim horses with back class or something like that and try to improve them,” Gonzalez said. “Now I have horses in the stakes races and I believe that's good not only for me but for everybody. They can see we're doing something good and doing good work.”

Trainer George Weaver captured last year's Black-Eyed Susan with Point of Honor, who would go on to run second in the coaching Club American Oaks (G1) and Alabama at 3 and the Ogden Phipps (G1) in June. Weaver returns to defend his title with Stetson Racing, Lanni Donato and Rita Riccelli's So Darn Hot, owner of a six-length maiden win June 18 at Belmont Park from just four lifetime starts.

Completing the field are Sharp Starr, most recently third in the Fleet Indian against fellow New York-breds Sept. 4 at Saratoga; Truth Hurts, third in the Bison City; and Delaware Oaks runner-up Dream Marie.

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‘Yet To See The Best Of Her’: Cox Sending Bonny South To Black-Eyed Susan

Trainer Brad Cox said Juddmonte Farms' homebred Munnings filly Bonny South was rerouted from the Kentucky Oaks (G1) once it was announced in mid-August that the $250,000, Black-Eyed Susan (G2) would be on the Preakness undercard at Pimlico racecourse in Baltimore, Md.

“That was the spot that made the most sense, against 3-year-olds fillies, he said.

Cox won the Kentucky Oaks anyway with 15-1 shot Shedaresthedevil upsetting Swiss Skydiver and odds-on favorite Gamine. He said the fact that he had the Indiana Oaks (G3) winner in the Churchill Downs race had no bearing on Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) winner Bonny South, who was coming off a second behind Swiss Skydiver in Saratoga's Alabama (G1) at 1 1/4 miles on Aug. 15.

“The biggest thing with her not running in the Kentucky Oaks was coming back in 20 days, the quality of the race. It was a very, very good race,” Cox said. “Ultimately they made the decision to not run. The timing wasn't quite there. Since the Alabama, she's done really, really well.”

Bonny South worked five-eighths of a mile in 1:01 under jockey Florent Geroux Saturday morning at Churchill Downs. Cox timed her galloping out six furlongs in a strong 1:13 4/5, saying afterward, “She went fantastic. She's doing great. She's maturing. She's still somewhat lightly raced, only run six times in her life. I think we have yet to see the best of her. Hopefully she'll take a step forward. I don't know what's running in there yet, but I'd have to think she's one of the top choices.”

Cox edged two-time defending champion Steve Asmussen to collect Preakness weekend's trainer participation bonus last year, collecting $50,000. The bonus, which totals $100,000 is offered to trainers based on horses' performances in stakes races. Cox earned top prize by winning the Miss Preakness (G3) with eventual 3-year-old filly and female sprint champion Covfefe, the Allaire duPont Distaff (G3) with Mylady Curlin, second in the Black-Eyed Susan with Ulele, as well as third (Owendale) and fourth (Warrior's Charge) in the Preakness in the trainer's Triple Crown debut.

Cox has some excellent horses under consideration this year but said no final decisions have been made beyond Bonny South. The possibilities from his barn include Juliet Foxtrot for the Gallorette (G3), Mundaye Call for the Miss Preakness, and Landeskog in the Frank DeFrancis Memorial Dash (G3).

“I don't know if I'll have as many this year as last year,” he said, adding that the bonus doesn't impact running horses “but once you start running, you start watching. That's how it works out. But really, it comes down to whether the horse fits or not. We just had a really good weekend last year.”

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Speech Tunes Up for Oaks Beneath Twin Spires

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Madaket Stables’ GI Ashland S. victress Speech (Mr Speaker)–third in the TDN Kentucky Oaks Top 10–drilled a half-mile in :47.60 (XBTV video) beneath exercise rider Osman Cedeno over the Churchill Downs main track Friday morning, her final major work ahead of the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks Sept. 4.

Working by her lonesome in the 7:30-7:45 a.m. window reserved for Kentucky Derby and Oaks horses, the Mike McCarthy trainee galloped through an opening quarter-mile in :24 flat and pulled up five furlongs in 1:00.20. It was the eighth-fastest of 94 half-mile breezes.

“She’s a very spirited horse and she got over the track well,” McCarthy said. “She always keeps herself plenty fit.”

Trainer Brad Cox sent out his two Oaks hopefuls in separate workouts Friday morning.

Juddmonte Farms’ Bonny South (Munnings, #5), the distant runner-up to likely second choice Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) in the GI Alabama S. at Saratoga Aug. 15, went a half-mile in :48.20 (XBTV video) inside of her GIII Indiana Derby-winning stablemate Shared Sense (Street Sense). She was caught in splits of :12.20 and :24 and galloped out five panels in 1:01.40.

“I thought it was a really strong work,” said Shaun Bridgmohan, who put Bonny South through her paces. “Shared Sense is a nice colt and she worked right with him.”

The Cox-conditioned GIII Indiana Oaks heroine Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil, #6) worked five furlongs in 1:01.40 underneath exercise rider Edgar Vargas.

“She’s really picked up her training over the last several weeks,” Cox said. “I’ve seen her really come into her own since winning the Indiana Oaks.”

Florent Geroux has the call next Friday.

At Del Mar Friday morning, TDN Rising Star‘ Donna Veloce (Uncle Mo, #4) went five furlongs in 1:00.80 (XBTV video). Trainer Simon Callaghan told the Churchill press office via text that Ricardo Santana, Jr. would take the Oaks ride.

Hopeful Growth (Tapiture, #8), who was entered in Friday night’s GIII Charles Town Oaks as a Kentucky Oaks backup, worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 over the Monmouth Park main track.

“I moved the work up a day because we are supposed to get rain tomorrow,” trainer Anthony Margotta said via text. “I was very pleased with her breeze.”

Project Whiskey (Tapizar, #9) went a half-mile in :47.82 over the Parx main track Friday morning, while Tempers Rising (Bayern, #10) breezed a bullet half-mile in :47 flat (XBTV video) at Churchill.

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