Cox loaded for stakes on Louisiana Derby Preview Day

NEW ORLEANS – The first multistakes card of any significance at the Fair Grounds meet on Dec. 17 sounded a steady drumbeat of Brad Cox-trained stakes winners. Green Mask won the Bonapaw, Cash Control won the Blushing K. D., and Western Reserve won the Buddy Diliberto.

But on the morning of Jan. 22, the day after Road to the Derby Kickoff Day here at Fair Grounds, Cox said his outfit was “licking our wounds.” Dazzling Gem nearly won the Louisiana Stakes, but Cash Control lost as the favorite in the Marie Krantz Memorial, Chocolate Ride and Western Reserve were defeated as the top two choices in the Colonel Bradley, and Arklow, who wound up fourth, had some late trouble that probably cost him a placing in the Lecomte Stakes.

“The last stakes day wasn’t as kind to us as the one in December,” Cox said this week.

Suffice it to say the Cox barn has not slunk back into the weeds, hiding from competition. It is back in force for Saturday’s Louisiana Derby Preview Day, with entrants in every one of the six stakes save the Rachel Alexandra. Green Mask is the morning-line favorite in the Colonel Power. Believe in Bertie is the morning-line favorite in the Daisy Devine. Dazzling Gem looks no worse than the second choice in the Grade 3 Mineshaft, and the same goes for Western Reserve in the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Handicap. Arklow, still a maiden, is back for more in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes, and he has progressed since the Lecomte, Cox said.

“Arklow is improving,” Cox said. “He had a great work Saturday. Shaun [Bridgmohan] thought he went well and galloped out great. It’s a very competitive race, but if he gets a good trip, we feel like he’ll show up.”

Cox’s has been an ever-growing presence at Fair Grounds. Already at this meeting, he has sent out 105 starters, 23 more than he did all of last season. Through last Sunday, Cox’s 27 winners were the most among Fair Grounds trainers, and his five stakes wins also lead the meet. Cox also runs an Oaklawn string, and his Fair Grounds division leans significantly toward turf; 22 of his wins at the meet have come on grass, and three turf-stakes wins Saturday are within reach.

Believe in Bertie steps up to face older rivals but was brilliant in setting a course record for one mile in the Pago Hop Stakes on Dec. 31. Green Mask is one of the better turf sprinters in the country and showed surprising positional speed in winning here in December. And in the Fair Grounds Handicap, Western Reserve could wind up the race’s controlling speed.

It wouldn’t be the first time this winter that everything had fallen into place for the Cox stable.

Acid test for December Seven

December Seven rallied stoutly to finish third while sprinting in his career debut last August and since then has done little wrong in four two-turn races. He won three of those starts by more than 10 lengths combined and did well to finish third after a dreadful trip at Keeneland in October. An easy second-level allowance win here Dec. 29 has earned December Seven his first stakes start in the Grade 3, $125,000 Mineshaft Handicap on Saturday.

“By all measures, these are stronger horses than he’s run against. This will be a new test for him,” said Paul McGee, who trains December Seven for Samantha Siegel’s Jay Emm Ess Stable. “But I think he’s showing he could be a very good horse.”

By Street Sense and out of the Bernardini mare Date to Remember, December Seven comes into the Mineshaft, in which he carries just 114 pounds, more than two months after his most recent start. The idea is to have a fresh horse should December Seven prove good enough for a race like the $400,000 New Orleans Handicap on April 1.

“He had run five times right in a row,” said McGee, who won the 2016 Mineshaft with Majestic Harbor. “I huddled up with Samantha, and we agreed just to give him a little break, freshen him up, and point for the Mineshaft.”

December Seven has logged four timed workouts, all under race rider James Graham and all in company, since his allowance win. December Seven had his major Mineshaft breeze Feb. 8, getting five furlongs in a bullet 1:00.20, a work McGee said was closer to six furlongs.

“He’s such a laid-back horse,” McGee said. “He’s a much better work horse in company. He’s one of those that would go in 1:03 by himself. He steps it up and breezes tons better when he has another horse with him. He’s worked fast, but those were pretty much in hand. Jimmy was raving about those breezes.”

December Seven faces eight opponents in a deep edition of the Mineshaft, a 1 1/16-mile dirt race. The morning-line favorite at 5-2 is Eagle, who nearly won the Grade 1 Stephen Foster last summer and is the race’s most accomplished horse but makes his first start in more than seven months.