By Brad Cox’s standards, the last two weeks have been slow, with three winners from 28 runners. On Preakness weekend at Pimlico, Cox won two, including the Black-Eyed Susan with Margie’s Intention, but back on home grounds at Churchill Downs, Cox sent out six and won none during the last racing week. But as May pushes toward June, expect Cox to heat up in Kentucky and New York. Cox’s barn is absolutely loaded with older dirt-route horses, to the extent that Cox nominated 10 of them to the May 31 Blame Stakes, a prep for the $1 million Stephen Foster on June 28. “I’m not sure which one. I might not run anyone,” Cox said. Two Blame nominees, Hit Show and First Mission, are training up to the Grade 1 Foster. Five-year old First Mission, a Godolphin homebred, exits a two-length score in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on April 19. First Mission earned a career-best 109 Beyer Speed Figure and went over $2 million in earnings, but in the Foster he’ll be trying to land his first Grade 1. “I like him running fresh,” Cox said. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Hit Show exits what clearly was the race of his life, a victory in the $12 million Dubai World Cup. That start came April 5, but rather than give Hit Show a post-Dubai break, Cox put him back in steady training after his return. Hit Show, purchased privately last year by Wathnan Racing, had his first work following the Middle Eastern trip on May 10, and he breezed again May 17. Just a Touch hasn’t won a stakes race of any kind after seven starts, but Cox appears to hold him in similar regard to his more accomplished older horses. Back from an extended break late this winter, Just a Touch toyed with allowance rivals at Fair Grounds and Keeneland and remains on course, working like gangbusters for what should be a memorable renewal of the Met Mile at Saratoga. Division leaders Fierceness and White Abarrio also are expected for that race. Highland Falls, winner last summer of the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup but unraced since a ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, isn’t even among the 10 nominated to the Blame. On May 16, Highland Falls had his first workout this year going as far as five furlongs. Cox has several other serious players for Saratoga stakes during Belmont Week, most prominently the undefeated Kentucky Oaks winner Good Cheer, who is headed for the Acorn Stakes. Cox toyed with running Patch Adams, who got a 96 Beyer winning a Derby Day allowance race over 6 1/2 furlongs, in the Matt Winn at Churchill, but Patch Adams starts next in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at seven furlongs. Finally, Final Gambit, fourth in the Kentucky Derby, remains under consideration for the Belmont Stakes but seems like a more likely runner in the $400,000 Matt Winn on June 8 at Churchill. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.