Big Changes kicks off exciting week for Cox
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Brad Cox will be at Gulfstream Park for the Eclipse Awards next Thursday night (Jan. 24), so it didn’t make much sense for him to make the long round-trip journey here from his Midwest base this Saturday, too. Cox will be busy anyway Saturday at Fair Grounds, and he’ll be keeping an eye on the simulcast signal at Gulfstream Park, where Big Changes will carry the Steve Landers silks in the $150,000 Sunshine Millions Turf.
Cox also entered Big Changes in the Col. E.R. Bradley at Fair Grounds on Saturday, but said he intends to run him against Florida-breds in the Sunshine Millions here.
“Hopefully it’ll be an easier spot,” he said.
Now 7, Big Changes has never raced in Florida, where he was bred by Joanne Crowe and Joe Pickerrell. The gelding has finished first or second in 12 of 15 turf starts, a record that makes him a major contender in the 1 1/16-mile Turf. Last year he won 5 of 7 starts and finished second in his two losses. He won three stakes.
“He’s a very consistent animal,” said Cox, whose first trip to the Eclipse dinner is due to Monomoy Girl being a huge favorite in the 3-year-old filly category. “He’s been training great and we’re hoping his big year last year will carry over into this year.”
Big Changes isn’t the only Fair Grounds invader who looms a big factor in a Sunshine Millions event. Forevamo, an earner of more than $500,000, all for Brittlynn Stables, also is being sent here from New Orleans by Steve Asmussen for the $200,000 Classic, the richest of the four Sunshine Millions races.
The 1 1/8-mile Classic was won last year by Jay’s Way, who is expected back for another run. Other notable Classic starters include Dalmore and Mr. Jordan.
The most accomplished starter in any of the Sunshine Millions events will be X Y Jet, who will be heavily favored in the $100,000 Sprint at six furlongs. The gray 7-year-old gelding, an earner of nearly $1.56 million, will be making his first start since winning the Smile Sprint here in late June.
The final race in the series is the $150,000 Filly and Mare Turf, a 1 1/16-mile race in which the 2018 winner, Starship Jubilee, once again figures prominently. Her opposition was expected to include as many as three Todd Pletcher trainees, led by Picara and Shanghai Starlet, both last-out winners on Sunshine Millions Preview Day in November at Gulfstream West.
The Sunshine Millions was inaugurated to great fanfare in 2002 with much larger purses (hence the Millions label) at both Gulfstream and Santa Anita as a competition between Florida-breds and California-breds. Its scope and stature have gradually diminished through the years, with the crossover element being eliminated after the 2011 runnings.
