Always a Runner tops Cotillion field
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Always a Runner, the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks winner, drew post 4 and figures to go favored in a field of nine entered Sunday for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion going 1 1/16 miles at Parx Racing.
Always a Runner, trained by Chad Brown, is coming off runner-up finishes to Counting Stars in both the Grade 1 Acorn and Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga. Brown opted to skip the Alabama and point to the Cotillion, a move that last week he said he was glad he made given how Always a Runner has been training.
“I’m really pleased that she’s holding her form, excited to run her in that race,” Brown said. “It’s a very big 'if' if she’s going to handle the track, it’s a very unique track, we’ll see if she handles it, but I couldn’t be more pleased with her training.”
My Miss Mo (Tyler Gaffalione) and Bodacious Bay (Michah Husbands), the one-two finishers from the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks, give trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. a potent one-two punch in the Cotillion. Bodacious Bay will be going out first time for Joseph after being purchased following the Monmouth Oaks by a group headed by C2 Racing and St. Elias Stable.
My Miss Mo and Bodacious Bay break from posts 1 and 2 and will be followed, in post order, by Zany (John Velazquez), Always a Runner (Jose Ortiz), Iron Orchard (Luis Saez), Savor It (Francisco Martinez), Measure (Manny Franco) and Tap to Open (Flavien Prat).
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