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Trainer Brad Cox Poised To Join Elite Company With Travers Favorite Essential Quality

History abounds at Saratoga Race Course, especially when it comes to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers. The country's oldest stakes race for 3-year-olds will have its 152nd edition on Saturday in headlining a stacked card of seven graded stakes and six Grade 1 contests.

The Runhappy Travers – for sophomores contesting the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles, is slated as Race 12 on the packed 13-race card. First post is set for 11:35 a.m.

For the third consecutive year, FOX will air the Runhappy Travers as the centerpiece of a 90-minute telecast beginning at 5 p.m. The networks of FOX and FOX Sports will air 7 1/2 total hours of live racing and analysis on Runhappy Travers Day, with coverage scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. on FS1.

Trainer Brad Cox can join an elite group Saturday if his entrant, 4-5 morning-line favorite Essential Quality, can win the Runhappy Travers. Should Essential Quality earn a winner's circle trip tomorrow, Cox would become just the eighth trainer overall to win the Grade 1 Whitney and Travers in the same year – and just the third to do so with two different horses after Knicks Go won the Whitney by 4 1/2 lengths on Aug. 7.

The last trainer to pull off the double of the two most prestigious races of the Saratoga summer meet was Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, who saddled fellow Hall of Famer Easy Goer to the sweep in 1989.

Prior to 1954, the Whitney was run at 1 1/4 miles as a weight-for-age event, and from 1957-69 it was restricted to 4-year-olds and up. Beginning in 1955 it was run at its current distance of 1 1/8 miles. Since 2020, when Improbable won, the Whitney has been restricted to 4-year-olds and up.

Other conditioners to notch both wins in the same year were MacKenzie Miller [Java Gold in 1987], John Veitch [Alydar in 1978], J. Elliott Burch [Key to the Mint, 1972] and Bert Mulholland [Eight Thirty, 1939].

Cox can join an even rarer group of trainers to win both races with two different horses.

James G. Rowe, Jr. saddled St. Brideaux to the Whitney win in 1931 and Twenty Grand to a Travers score that summer, while John M. Gaver, Sr. conditioned Swing and Sway to Whitney glory and Shut Out to Travers success in 1942.

Cox will be looking to accomplish a feat last reached 79 years ago when Essential Quality breaks from post 2 in the seven-horse field in Race 12 at 6:12 p.m. Eastern.

“When you can win Grade 1s at Saratoga, whether it's the Whitney or Travers, it's always huge to win any of them on the NYRA circuit, period,” Cox said. “To win the Travers and Whitney in the same year; we've already had a great meet to begin with, but if we can cap it off with this, it would be huge.

“It's the biggest 3-year-old race outside of the Triple Crown races, so it would be right up there with winning the Belmont, for sure.”

Essential Quality has already made an indelible mark on Cox's career, providing him his first American Classic victory with that 1 1/4-length score in the Belmont Stakes on June 5. The Godolphin homebred has won seven of his eight career starts with six graded stakes victories, including a 3-for-3 effort last year en route to winning the Eclipse Award as Champion 2-Year-Old following wins in the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity and the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile, both at Keeneland.

That run helped Cox earn his first Eclipse Award as Outstanding Trainer, and the Tapit colt continued his dominance to begin his sophomore campaign, winning the Grade 3 Southwest and the Grade 2 Blue Grass before running a competitive fourth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in his lone career defeat on May 1 at Churchill Downs.

Undeterred, Essential Quality showed he could handle Belmont's famed 12-furlong distance, overcoming Hot Rod Charlie's blistering fractions to collar his rival and win the Belmont Stakes, earning a personal-best 109 Beyer Speed Figure. Getting his first taste of the Saratoga main track, Essential Quality registered a half-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile Grade 2 Jim Dandy on July 31 in preparation for the Runhappy Travers.

“I think he's bigger, there's more of him. He's stronger than he was leading up to the Belmont,” Cox said about Essential Quality's physical maturation. “It comes with age. He's still a young horse and still developing. I've continued to see signs of progression and that's why he's 4-5.”

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Trainer Appeals Fine, Suspension Issued After New Mexico Horse Mix-Up

Trainer Justin Evans and the horse identifier at the Downs at Albuquerque have both been fined for a horse mix-up that occurred during a maiden special weight race on Aug. 14, reports bloodhorse.com.

Evans entered two plain bay geldings, Extremely Wicked and Square Root, in the six-furlong contest. According to the chart, Extremely Wicked won the race wearing the number nine saddle cloth, and Square Root finished third wearing the number six. The number nine paid $5.40 to win as the second choice, while the even-money favorite, number six, paid $2.40 to show.

In the test barn, however, it was discovered that number nine was actually Square Root.

In an Aug. 21 ruling, the New Mexico board of stewards ordered both horses disqualified and unplaced; the horse identifier was fined $1,000; and Evans was fined $5,000 and suspended 15 days (Aug. 26 – Sept. 9). Evans appealed the ruling on Aug. 23, and also filed for a temporary restraining order to controvert the suspension.

“They fined the identifier $1,000 and he keeps his job, but they want to give me a $5,000 fine and take away 15 days when I have a family to feed and own half of my 45-horse stable so I won't be able to transfer any of my horses,” Evans told bloodhorse.com. “Look, the identifiers are up against it because they have terrible equipment. The scanners they use don't show the horse's name and number, only a list of 20 numbers. They want to use the absolute insurer rule, but the track also needs to provide the tools to make sure things like this don't happen.”

Evans said the track does not provide numbered smocks for grooms leading horses to the paddock, and that there are not enough valets to saddle the horses. One of his horses was acting up and had to be saddled outside the paddock on that afternoon, Evans added.

“The valets put the 6 on the 9 horse and the 9 on the 6 horse,” the trainer explained. “The identifier said they were the correct horses. They run and nothing is caught until 20 minutes after the race when they are back at the test barn.”

Donworth Joins The Chantilly Training Ranks

Among the current top ten trainers in France are two graduates of the Godolphin Flying Start course: Francis Graffard and Jerome Reynier. These are big footsteps in which to follow for the latest former Flying Start student to try his hand at training, and what sets Tim Donworth apart is that France is not his native country.

He was, however, born to a life with horses. The 27-year-old grew up on Round Hill Stud in Co Limerick, which is owned by his parents Bobby and Honora and has also been the birthplace of plenty of decent Thoroughbreds down the years, including dual Group 1 winner Rizeena (Ire) and the stallions Puissance De Lune (Ire) and Bow Creek (Ire).

“I'd be nowhere only for Round Hill, but I never really wanted to be a breeder,” says the Irishman, who will be up and running as a trainer in Chantilly from the start of September.

“I knew I could never be as good as my mum and dad at it, so I wanted to do my own thing and make my own name. When I got it out of my head that I was going to be a jockey, I always wanted to train. I always knew Ireland would be very hard as it's dominated by a couple of stables and it's just highly competitive. Training in France is, I suppose, a good example of how you just don't know where life is going to take you.”

A former point-to-point rider, Donworth's initial major racing foray outside Ireland was to the Newmarket stable of William Haggas, where he was pupil assistant alongside Michael Kent Jr, who is now training in partnership back home in Australia with Mick Price. While there he was lured to apply for the Flying Start apprenticeship and, having been accepted, he later completed a placement with another former Flying Starter-turned-trainer, Tom Morley. On completion of his course, Donworth was initially offered a job back in the United States assisting French ex-pat Christophe Clement, but fate intervened in the form of Clement's elder brother Nicolas, the doyen of the Chantilly training fraternity, who poached him to be his own assistant.

“Christophe had said he didn't need me until the spring when New York, Florida, and Keeneland are all in operation at the one time,” Donworth explains. “So I was very keen to do it, but I had four months without anything to do. Christophe organised for me to go to Chantilly for some more experience and then I guess after four or five months, Nicolas took it upon himself to try and nick me. So I never went back.”

One brother's loss then was another's gain, but Donworth clearly appreciated learning not just from one of the masters of the French scene, but also the chance to try to master the French language. In Chantilly, one can get by on a bit of Franglaise, but it was a different story when the Irishman headed south-west to broaden his experience with Jean-Claude Rouget in Pau.

“I couldn't speak French when I arrived. So it was a massive challenge and I love a challenge,” says Donworth. “I decided to stay and then when I went to Pau, I found I was speaking French all day every day because nobody spoke English, and with Mr Rouget I only ever had a relationship in French. So it got good thankfully, and now it's a sufficient level to run a business in the country.”

The aspiring trainer's year-long stint with Rouget was split between Pau and Deauville, and it is in the latter where Donworth has been hard at work recently, attempting to recruit youngsters to his stable from the yearling sales. For his solo business venture, he has returned to familiar territory in Chantilly and will be renting a portion of Clement's yard.

“I will have around 20 boxes to start with and hopefully with the room to expand as well,” he says. “I have 10 horses ready to come in and then I will probably have another three or four yearlings. I claimed a horse about two or three weeks ago that will run in October. I have another owner that is very into claimers, so I was lucky to find him. Then I have a 2-year-old for someone else that will be running straight away. I'm very lucky in that I had a background involved in breeding. So I was always going to sales, always meeting people.”

Donworth will of course be able to rely on some support from his parents, who were at the Arqana sale on the lookout for yearlings with French premiums, and he has also been sent a horse by long-term family friend Kirsten Rausing, who is currently enjoying a tremendous season with her homebred runners.

“She's a brilliant woman. She's been a massive support and always been good for advice my whole life,” says Donworth of the owner of Lanwades Stud.

He is also appreciative of the support shown to him by his former boss, with whom he will be involved in a new Franco-Irish racing club.

He adds, “Nicolas is head of the Trainers' Federation for a reason, because he's always been a man to get things done. He's a very well-respected trainer who won an Arc when he was probably younger than me. He knows what he's doing and he's always had a very good reputation for helping young people, just like Christophe in the States. Between Nicolas and Christophe, they've had some top-class people pass through their hands, so I guess I'm lucky to be part of that Clement family fraternity.”

Donworth continues, “I was his assistant for two years and I don't want people to be confused and think that we are training together. We're very separate operations, but at the same time, Nicolas has been a bit of a role model for me. So I'm delighted to be in his yard, delighted to have him there for advice if I ever needed it.

“Nicolas is setting up a racing club and he's been very kind to say he's going to give me half of the horses. I think the plan is to buy four to six horses. For an owner buying into it, it's a good mixture because you have someone with an awful lot of experience. Then you have a young guy who's very ambitious. I want to take over the world, whether I can do it or not, nobody knows, but we'll give it a go.”

Donworth may have long-term plans for world domination but he is keeping his immediate expectations in check as he prepares to send out his first runners.

He says, “I think when you start in September, the goal is next year, really, but it would be lovely just to have a couple of runners this year, and if I could win a race or two before Christmas, brilliant.”

The post Donworth Joins The Chantilly Training Ranks appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Trainer Doug Nunn Continues Overcoming Physical Setbacks In What May Be The Best Year Of His Career

The worst year physically of trainer Doug Nunn's life is heading toward being his best one professionally. Whether that's coincidence or just a matter of everything coming together after 29 years as a trainer he can't say for sure.

But he does have a theory.

“I think it's because I'm off the horses right now,” he joked.

Nunn, a former jockey who has been Monmouth Park-based since 2000, has always exercised the horses he trains, doing so from the time he launched his second career in 1992. That changed on May 3.

Nunn was getting on a horse when he slipped on a bag of shavings. From the fall he snapped his right quadriceps muscle and had to undergo a complicated re-attachment surgery. That left him in a cast and a boot for two months.

“I've ridden horses my whole life. I've always exercised my own horses,” said Nunn. “This is the first time I haven't been able to do that. After you've done it for 30 years that way, just from being on them I can tell you anything about a horse after getting on one. So it's a whole new perspective to see them from the ground and train them from the ground.

“It's hard for me. It's a big adjustment. I learn something new every day.”

The new perspective hasn't had an impact on his results – unless a year that could wind up as the best of his career counts. Nunn is currently 8-for-32 at the Monmouth Park meet and has 11 winners overall from 61 starters. His winning percentage is the highest it has ever been, as is the average earnings per start.

He can now take dead aim at a career-best 17 wins that he recorded in 2011 – again in large part because of his injury.

Nunn, 52, has annually headed to nearby Overbrook Farm to break horses in the winter after the Monmouth Park meet ends. This year, because of his physical limitations, he can no longer do that. So he will ship to Tampa Downs with a division for the first time when Monmouth Park closes.

“Usually at this time of year I'd have 17 or 18 of my own horses and I would start to think about the 20 or so yearlings I would be breaking in another few months on the farm,” he said. “I can't break the horses anymore because of my leg so we'll try to keep things going and try to keep the momentum going by going to Tampa for the first time.”

Nunn, whose twin brother David retired as a trainer this year, comes from a racing family. Both of his parents were trainers at Finger Lakes, where he grew up, and his sister, Michelle Harris, was an accomplished jockey.

So he understands that running a 27-horse stable requires a lot of help.

“My help has been the difference, since I couldn't do anything for quite a while,” said Nunn, citing assistants Kendall Wyszynski, Rafael Aguilar, Fernando Arellano and Melissa Iorio as professional lifesavers when he was incapacitated. “I had to depend on them and they have done a great job. My wife (Maria van Sant) keeps me grounded. So it's a good mix.”

Nunn's stable, which consists mostly of claimers, Jersey-breds and some allowance-quality horses, will look to add to its success during Friday's twilight card at Monmouth Park. He has entered Postino's Idol, an 8-year-old mare recently claimed off a win by Winner Circle Stable, and Ask Around, a 3-year-old coming off a maiden special weight win, in the $71,875 allowance optional claimer that will serve as the feature.

Nunn expects to be able to saddle both, but isn't sure yet since he is scheduled to undergo a procedure on Thursday to remove kidney stones that have plagued him for more than a month.

“It's just one of those years. You learn to take the bad with the good,” he said.

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