Cox has five Breeders' Cup runners, all with a chance

ARCADIA, Calif. – Five years was a lifetime ago for Brad Cox. He was still reassembling a racing stable that had been all but disbanded, the result of an eggs-in-one-basket arrangement with an owner who wound up dismissing him through an attorney.

Cox was here at Santa Anita with his first-ever Breeders’ Cup starter, a 4-year-old gelding named Carve. Dismissed at 17-1 in the 2014 BC Dirt Mile, Carve wasn’t much of a factor when finishing sixth under Mike Smith.

“It was the first horse I’d ever run in California,” Cox recalled, “and it meant something to me. It was a good experience, and I remember thinking, ‘I sure would like to get back to the Breeders’ Cup with a better chance sometime.’ ”

Oh, Cox is back – and quite possibly with a vengeance. The 39-year-old native of Louisville, Ky., will run five horses this weekend in the 36th Breeders’ Cup championships, and none is lacking a legitimate chance. Foremost among his contenders is the star 3-year-old filly Covfefe, who is expected to be favored Saturday over the mare Come Dancing in the Filly and Mare Sprint. Covfefe, by Into Mischief, is owned by LNJ Foxwoods.

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“She absolutely could not be doing any better,” Cox said by phone prior to leaving Kentucky on Tuesday, the same day his horses were scheduled to arrive here via equine charter.

“She’s got an unbelievable amount of talent, and she’s shown she’s a good shipper with the way she ran at Pimlico and Saratoga,” referring to her track-record triumph in the Miss Preakness in May and her Grade 1 Test win in August. “We just need a decent trip and hopefully she can do the rest.”

Cox’s other Saturday starters are Arklow in the Turf and Owendale in the Classic.

Arklow, a winner of the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic at Belmont Park last month after being defeated in his first five races this year, “is a very honest horse who runs on anything,” said Cox.

“He actually would prefer a little more give in the ground than we’ll probably get, but that’s fine. I always felt like he was the kind of horse that would get better with age, and even though he’s only won one race this year, I think he’s proven he’s one of the top horses in the division. He’s going to bring his ‘A’ game again.”

Owendale, a 3-year-old facing older horses for the first time, won three Grade 3 races this year – the Lexington, Ohio Derby, and Oklahoma Derby. Javier Castellano will ride the Into Mischief colt for the first time, replacing the injured Florent Geroux.

“He breezed fantastic” Saturday at Churchill Downs “and is really thriving right now,” said Cox. “He’s a pretty easy horse to ride. As long as he gets a clean trip, I think he’ll give a very good account of himself and show he can get the mile and a quarter.”

The Cox runners on the Friday card are Andesite in the Juvenile Turf and British Idiom in the Juvenile Fillies.

Andesite, a gray The Factor colt who was beaten just a head by Structor in the Pilgrim at Belmont, has had “two very good breezes” over the Churchill dirt in preparation for this, said Cox, adding, “He’s going to run well. He’s made three starts and shown up every time. I thought he was impressive in the Pilgrim, and with that narrow of a margin to make up, we felt like we needed to try this.”

British Idiom won the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades at Keeneland in just her second start, and “bounced out of that race really well,” said Cox. The daughter of Flashback “looks amazing – her coat, her weight, everything. I’d even say she’s grown up a lot since the Alcibiades.”

The strong hand Cox brings to the Breeders’ Cup is a reflection of just how far he has come since his unceremonious firing in August 2012 by his only major client at the time, the Midwest Thoroughbreds of Rich Papiese.

Last year, Cox won the Kentucky Oaks and his first BC race, the Distaff, with the eventual 3-year-old filly champion Monomoy Girl, furthering his spectacular rise into the top echelons of the North American training ranks. His horses earned more than $15 million in 2018; a productive weekend here at Santa Anita will vault him past that career-high number, even with nearly two months left in 2019. He has been the leading trainer at numerous Midwest tracks, including Churchill, Keeneland, and Fair Grounds, all the while expanding his client roster and his reach into other racing jurisdictions, including New York.

“We’d love to make a good showing at the Breeders’ Cup this time around,” said Cox. “It’s great to be back.”