Cox looks to stay hot with duo in Winkfield

Trainer Brad Cox is 3 for 3 in stakes races run at Aqueduct thus far in 2024 and will look to add another when he sends out the uncoupled pair of Bergen and Air Cav as part of a five-horse field entered in Saturday’s $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters.

The Winkfield, at six furlongs, will go as race 3 on a 10-race card that begins at 11:45 a.m. and includes the $150,000 Interborough Stakes, which had been originally scheduled for Jan. 20, a card that was canceled due to weather concerns.

Bergen, a son of Liam’s Map owned by Spendthrift Farm and others, received a solid education in his first two starts. Breaking from the outside in a 12-horse field on debut at Keeneland, Bergen broke on top, dropped back to sixth, and rallied to reel in Linzer to win by three-quarters of a length. Linzer was recently disqualified from a maiden win at Fair Grounds.

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In a first-level allowance going one mile on Nov. 25 at Churchill, Bergen broke from post 2 in an 11-horse field. He had to check slightly, losing position, after passing the chute, was eventually swung to the seven path, and finished determinedly to get second behind the Ohio-bred Who Dey who was winning his fourth consecutive race.

Cox said he was pleased with both of Bergen’s races and was looking for a middle-distance allowance for him, but when that race didn’t go, he wound up here.

“He might want a little more ground, but he’ll give us a little bit better picture on Saturday of what he wants to do,” Cox said.

On Dec. 30, Bergen was a workmate of Comparative, the Cox-trained filly who won the Ladies Stakes on Jan. 6.

Air Cav, a son of Mitole owned and bred by Calumet Farm, won his debut by a neck on Aug. 30 at Horseshoe Indianapolis. He was then thrown to the wolves in the Grade 1 Champagne, where he finished fifth, 15 1/4 lengths behind the Cox-trained Timberlake. Fierceness, the seventh-place finisher in the Champagne, came back to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and was likely to be crowned 2-year-old champion on Thursday.

Speaking of Air Cav’s debut – which did produce two next-out winners – Cox said, “I thought he ran well, showed some determination and grit to get up to win. We’ve been waiting for the right spot to go, this is about as good as we’re going to get right now.”

On Dec. 30, Air Cav was the workmate of Drum Roll Please, who on Jan. 6 won the Jerome Stakes before suffering an injury that knocked him off the Triple Crown trail.

Among the Winkfield competition is Iridescent, a horse Cox formerly trained before losing him to David Jacobson at the claim box for $50,000 on Nov. 30. For Jacobson, Iridescent won a starter allowance by 3 1/4 lengths on Jan. 5 with an 83 Beyer Speed Figure.

That figure ties Stolen Magic for the highest Beyer in the field. Stolen Magic, trained by Linda Rice for KEM Stables, achieved his number winning a 6 1/2-furlong maiden race on Nov. 17 at Aqueduct, his most recent start.

Sixth-out maiden winner El Divino Nino, cross-entered in Saturday’s $100,000 Spectacular Bid Stakes at Laurel, completes the field.

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