Connally Cup winner Dot Matrix could run next in Muniz Memorial or Elkhorn Stakes

Dot Matrix is back home at Fair Grounds following his win last Sunday in the Grade 3, $200,000 John B. Connally Turf Cup at Sam Houston.

Options for his next start include the Grade 2, $300,000 Muniz Memorial Classic on March 21 at Fair Grounds and the Grade 2, $250,000 Elkhorn on April 18 at Keeneland, said trainer Brad Cox.

“We may just wait for the Elkhorn or we may shorten him back up,” Cox said. “He’s good anywhere from a mile and a sixteenth and beyond.”

Dot Matrix won at 1 1/2 miles in the Connally, the same distance as the Elkhorn. The Muniz will be run at about 1 1/8 miles on the grass.

Dot Matrix earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 96 in the Connally. It was the first graded stakes win of his career and pushed his earnings to $600,000, all for Ten Strike Racing.

Dot Matrix is a New York-bred by Freud. His dam is the Gulch mare Aunt Dot Dot.

The Cox-trained Mylady Curlin was part of a four-horse dash to the wire in the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic on Sunday. She finished fourth by a length – losing a photo for third – and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 95.

“She ran really well the other day,” Cox said. “I was kind of disappointed with the outcome. She ran a winning race.”

Mylady Curlin now is at Oaklawn and under consideration for the track’s Grade 2, $350,000 Azeri on March 14, said Cox. The Grade 2 winner races for her breeder, Sather Family.