OCEANPORT, N.J. – Brad Cox, the Eclipse Award-winning trainer of 2020, began training horses when he was just 22. His son Blake also would like to get an early start. Blake Cox, 20, is overseeing the seven horses Cox has stabled at Monmouth Park this week, including Haskell starter Mandaloun, who had a five-furlong workout here Saturday and came out it “in great shape,” Cox said. This is the colt’s second time shipping to New Jersey this summer. Last month, he won the Pegasus Stakes, his Haskell prep. “His first time here he was a little keyed up, shipped in four days before, and this time he’ll be here a week and a half. I think it’s good for him. He likes to look around, has his quirks,” said Cox. Blake Cox working as the point man for a major Brad Cox-trained shipper is nothing new. Cox went to Saudi Arabia with Knicks Go in February and took the horse to Gulfstream Park, where he won the Pegasus World Cup in January. He first oversaw a string of Cox shippers three years ago with seven runners at Remington Park. Last year, he was the head assistant looking after a 45-horse string at Keeneland. And the younger Cox already is in possession of a trainer’s license. :: Bet the races with confidence on DRF Bets. You're one click away from the only top-rated betting platform fully integrated with exclusive data, analysis, and expert picks. “I’m kind of ready for somebody to hang it up, retire or something, because I’m ready to go out on my own,” said Cox. Cox chatted Wednesday morning while holding Bonny South (who shipped back to Monmouth and will head to Saratoga following a disappointing performance as the favorite in the July 10 Delaware Handicap) as she got a bath. Cox is filling in as hotwalker for the Monmouth shippers, and started working around the barn as early as age 7. As a high school sophomore, he elected to leave in-person schooling and take classes online while going to work full time for his dad. He has put in the labor and the time and seems serious about following in Brad Cox’s footsteps sooner rather than later. “I want to win my first Derby before he does,” Cox said, perhaps only half-joking.