Cox goes 3 for 4 in Saturday stakes

Trainer Brad Cox had entrants in four stakes races this past Saturday at Fair Grounds and emerged with three winners. Not a bad afternoon.

“We had a great day,” Cox said Monday. “A little disappointed with Dazzling Gem, but otherwise the horses ran really well.”

Dazzling Gem, favored in the Tenacious Stakes, zoomed into contention on the far turn of that two-turn dirt race, but faded late and missed the board. But Green Mask won the Bonapaw Stakes, Cash Control scored a gritty victory in the Blushing K.D. Stakes, and Western Reserve, making his first start for Cox, prevailed over a fast-finishing Greengrassofyoming in the Buddy Diliberto Memorial.

Western Reserve had been trained by Bill Mott through this past fall, but owner-breeder Juddmonte Farms entered him in Keeneland’s November auction, where Marc Detampel bought Western Reserve for $87,000. He won the $75,000 Diliberto by a nose, earning a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He’d been training real well,” Cox said. “He fought hard to win, and the jock said he really dug down deep.”

Shaun Bridgmohan, who was on three stakes winners Saturday, rode Western Reserve.

The Cox-trained Chocolate Ride finished fourth as the favorite under Florent Geroux in the Diliberto, beaten only about a half-length in a race Cox said the 6-year-old probably needed for fitness.

“Florent said he just got a little tired late,” Cox said. “He’ll get a lot out of that. We’ll look at bringing both horses back next month.”

The next turf-route stakes at Fair Grounds is the Grade 3 Colonel Bradley on Jan. 21.

Green Mask, coming out of a fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, kept surprisingly close to the loose leader Latent Revenge in the 5 1/2-furlong Bonapaw and ran him down to win by a neck, earning a 100 Beyer. Cox said Green Mask would be pointed to the Feb. 25 Colonel Power, the next turf-sprint stakes at Fair Grounds, and though that race is worth a mere $50,000, it could serve as a prep for the $1 million Al Quoz Sprint on the Dubai World Cup undercard in late March.

“We’ll point for the stakes in February and then make a decision on whether we go to Dubai or wait for Keeneland in April,” Cox said.

The Cox-trained Almasty was fifth in the Bonapaw and will be aimed at a third-level turf-route allowance.

Cash Control, meanwhile, had to work hard to beat Kitten’s Roar by a head in the Blushing K.D. after handing that filly a four-length defeat last month at Churchill Downs.

“The other filly made it interesting,” Cox said. “Kitten’s Roar passed her for sure in the stretch. I was proud of the way she fought back.”

Cash Control is 6, but Cox reiterated that for now owners Richard and Bertram Klein intend to campaign her through 2017.

As for Dazzling Gem, he wound up sixth after, Cox said, becoming too aggressive on the backstretch of the Tenacious.

“When he switched leads down the backside, he just took off,” Cox said. “We’ll just regroup, probably look for an allowance race.”