Cox considering Zozos for Met Mile, where he would meet Cody's Wish
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Saturday’s undercard stakes at Churchill Downs had major implications to the developing field for the Grade 1, $1 million Metropolitan Handicap on June 10 at Belmont Park – a race that has long been crucial to championship aspirations.
In its last 10 runnings, the race has been won by divisional champions Honor Code (2015 older dirt male), Mitole (2019 male sprinter), and Flightline (2022 Horse of the Year, older dirt male).
About 1:15 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, trainer Brad Cox thought he had a Met Mile horse after Zozos was headed but held staunch for a three-quarter-length win in the $175,000 Knicks Go, which was run at the same one-turn mile configuration as the Met Mile.
A little more than three hours later, he wasn’t so sure.
“I thought he was [a Met Mile horse], until I watched Cody’s Wish run,” Cox joked.
Fan favorite Cody’s Wish, the reigning Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner, rolled by 4 3/4 lengths in the Grade 1, $750,000 Churchill Downs Stakes at seven furlongs to open his 2023 season. Owner-breeder Godolphin has long mentioned the Met Mile as a first-half season target for him.
“I don’t know about running against him,” Cox said. “I would probably nominate [Zozos], look at it. Looking at [Zozos] Sunday morning, I did really like what I saw from him. . . . We’ll watch him, we’ll nominate to the Met Mile and some other things, and see how it shakes out.”
Zozos, away from the races nearly seven months after finishing 10th in the 2022 Kentucky Derby, had a productive winter at Fair Grounds, with two allowance/optional-claiming victories sandwiching a fifth in the Grade 3 Louisiana Stakes. All three starts came at 1 1/16 miles or a mile and 70 yards.
“I didn’t know really what to expect turning him back to a one-turn mile,” Cox said. “We had thought about it. We didn’t have that option this winter – it was either a mile and 70 yards or six furlongs. You can’t get that one-turn race.”
Zozos has now earned back-to-back Beyer Speed Figures of 100.
Meanwhile, Cody’s Wish earned his fifth straight stakes victory and fifth straight triple-digit Beyer, with a 105 in the Churchill Downs. He is already a winner at a one-turn mile, having taken the Grade 3 Westchester at Belmont during his streak.
Cody’s Wish is named for Cody Dorman, a teenager who has a rare genetic disorder known as Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome. The horse stopped before the boy on the way into the paddock and greeted him in the winner’s circle post-race.
Mott also has Eclipse Award champion sprinter Elite Power, who also was stabled at Churchill this week, as a candidate for either the Met Mile or the Grade 2, $250,000 True North Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on the same card at Belmont.
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