Cox barn looms large in Preview Day stakes

The long and powerful tentacles of the Brad Cox racing stable figure to make their presence felt Sunday at Ellis Park when an innovative Preview Day card is run for the first time at the western Kentucky track. Cox, who will watch from Saratoga, will be represented by favorites in three of the four $100,000 stakes on the card, which serve as preps for the five-day Kentucky Downs meet next month. All four races will be run on turf and are completely funded from the $2.9 million granted earlier this year to the Ellis purse account by Kentucky Downs. Each $100,000 purse includes $25,000 in bonus incentives for horses registered with the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund.

Cox has Will Call, Arklow, and Mr. Misunderstood – all graded stakes winners – as favorites in their respective Sunday races.

The four stakes are carded late on a nine-race card and are included in a 50-cent pick-five wager (races 5-9). The only non-stakes in the sequence, race 7, is a $44,000 allowance.

After Sunday, Ellis goes dark until another three-day race week resumes Friday. First post throughout the 30-day meet, which runs through Sept. 3, is 12:50 p.m. Central.

◗ Preview Turf Sprint (race 5, 2:42) – Will Call, winner of the Grade 3 Turf Sprint on the May 4 Kentucky Oaks card at Churchill Downs, actually was being pointed to the Troy Stakes on Sunday at Saratoga, “but it was so wet up there that we brought him back earlier this week,” said Richard Klein, whose family bred and owns the 4-year-old colt.

“This ought to be a good lead-in to the Kentucky Downs race anyway,” Klein added, referring to the $500,000 KD Turf Sprint on Sept. 8.

Will Call will have Shaun Bridgmohan back aboard when he breaks from post 3 in a field of nine 3-year-olds and up in this 5 1/2-furlong race. His chief opposition could come from Angaston (post 6, Brian Hernandez Jr.), whom he narrowly defeated in a June 28 allowance at Churchill.

◗ Preview Turf Cup (race 6, 3:10) – Cox will send out Arklow, winner of the Grade 2 American Turf on the 2017 Kentucky Derby card, in this 1 1/4-mile race, which is a prep for the $750,000 Kentucky Turf Cup on Sept. 8. Arklow, with Bridgmohan riding, will break from post 7 in a field of eight older horses after finishing fourth in the Stars and Stripes at Arlington Park in his most recent start.

Other major players include Sir Dudley Digges (post 2, Adam Beschizza), who was the 2016 Queen’s Plate winner, and Flatlined (post 8, Chris Landeros), winner of the Gulliams Memorial last summer at Ellis.

◗ Preview Tourist Mile (race 8, 4:10) – The Cox-trained Mr. Misunderstood (post 7, Bridgmohan) is listed at even-money on the Ellis program and could be the heaviest favorite in the four stakes. The 4-year-old gelding began a remarkable eight-race win streak on grass when in for a $30,000 claiming tag late in his 2-year-old season and has gone on to become a two-time graded stakes winner, including the Grade 2 Wise Dan at Churchill in his last start.

“Obviously, we didn’t know he was going to turn out this good,” said Staton Flurry, the 28-year-old owner of Mr. Misunderstood. “He’s really gotten a lot of confidence along the way.”

Others in a field of nine looking to stamp their ticket to the $750,000 Tourist Mile on Sept. 1 include Parlor (post 4, Hernandez), a first-time gelding, and another Cox trainee, Cowboy Culture (post 9, Corey Lanerie), who is making his first start in more than seven months.

◗ Preview Ladies Turf (race 9, 4:40) – Lovely Bernadette (post 12, Lanerie), a multiple graded stakes winner, will try to rebound off a subpar effort at Indiana Grand last month as a lukewarm morning-line favorite in an oversubscribed field of fillies and mares looking to run back in the $500,000 KD Ladies Turf on Sept. 8. In all, 14 are entered, but only as many as 12 can start.