Cox: ‘A lot of positives to being' at Palm Meadows

The ever-growing tentacles of the Brad Cox stable have now reached into South Florida, where Cox has set up shop at the Palm Meadows training center in Boynton Beach for the first time.

Cox was represented by his second winner of the 2020-21 championship meet at Gulfstream Park when a 2-year-old filly named Patty H was an easy gate-to-wire winner of a maiden-claiming race Thursday at the Hallandale Beach track. Cox has about 24 horses at Palm Meadows with assistant Dustin Dugas.

“I’ve thought about sending horses to Florida for several years now,” Cox said by phone this week from his primary winter base at Fair Grounds in New Orleans. “I thought it was finally time to dip my toe in the water. They card a lot of races at Gulfstream for 2-year-olds turning 3, and we sure have plenty of those.”

Cox, whose record-tying four wins at the Breeders’ Cup last month at Keeneland have helped make him a leading candidate for the 2020 Eclipse Award as outstanding trainer, is currently active in three other states – Louisiana, Kentucky, and New York – while he also has dispatched a string to Oaklawn Park in Arkansas for a meet that starts Jan. 22. Cox will be spending most of his time in the coming months at Fair Grounds.

The Florida expansion is logical enough. Aside from ample opportunities for his younger horses at Gulfstream, “they run a lot of middle-distance races, from 6 1/2 furlongs to a one-turn mile, that you can’t get at Fair Grounds, Oaklawn, or Turfway Park,” Cox said. “Plus you can breeze your horses on the turf at Palm Meadows. There are certain advantages that fit our program, a lot of positives to being there.”

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Dugas is a former jockey who rode four years (2008-11) in Louisiana and Minnesota, with 75 of his 147 career wins coming in 2009. He will be charged with overseeing a division of a stable that has racked up 30 graded stakes wins and more than $18.7 million in earnings in 2020.

“I’ve only visited Palm Meadows one time, and it’s been a while,” Cox said. “I’ll be flying in occasionally to check on everything. I’m excited about it.”

While this is the first time for Cox to maintain a steady presence in Florida, he does have a history of sending runners to Gulfstream for spot stakes. In fact, dating to 2016, his five prior Gulfstream wins all had come in stakes, the most recent being Frost Or Frippery in the Dec. 2 Claiming Crown Iron Horse.

Rainbow 6 back to zero

An 11-race Sunday program at Gulfstream will feature back-to-back Florida-bred allowances as the 20-cent Rainbow 6 wager (races 6-11) begins anew. The popular wager was scheduled for a mandatory “forceout” on Saturday, wherein a jackpot expected to reach a few million dollars was to be emptied.

The Sunday co-features, both with purses of $40,000, are carded as races 9 and 10. Race 9 could have Charlie the Greek as a slight favorite in a field of seven 3-year-olds and up going a one-turn mile on the main track, while Race 10 is a turf sprint in which The Virginian and Kyle figure as the main contenders. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.

After Sunday, Gulfstream goes dark for two days before a shortened holiday week resumes Wednesday. Racing will be conducted Thursday (Christmas Eve), but not Friday (Christmas). A trio of $75,000 turf stakes will then be held when action resumes Saturday – the Tropical Park Derby, the Tropical Park Oaks, and the two-mile Allen Jerkens.

Arham in flashy debut

A 3-year-old Shadwell Stable homebred named Arham earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure in winning on debut Thursday at Gulfstream, striding out to prevail by seven lengths when finishing six furlongs in 1:10.13. Luis Saez was aboard the Union Rags colt for trainer Todd Pletcher.

“What’s exciting about it is I think he’s a horse that will really appreciate more distance going forward – to win like that going six,” Pletcher said. “He’s been training very professionally. We were expecting a good debut.”