Cox pair of Australasia, T D Dance return in separate allowances

Brad Cox midday Friday sat aboard an airplane, surely still basking in the glow of being named champion trainer for the second year in a row at the Eclipse Awards on Thursday night in California.

Meanwhile, at Cox’s Fair Grounds barn, two of his many stakes winners from his Eclipse-worthy 2021 season are ready to make their first starts in 2022 on Monday in New Orleans.

Australasia, who put together an electric campaign before going to the sidelines last summer, goes in race 7. T D Dance runs in race 8, his first start since he finished second as clearly the best horse in the Mystic Lake Derby on June 23 at Canterbury Park.

Race 7 is carded for six furlongs on dirt, restricted to fillies and mares, and is a basic third-level allowance race with an $80,000 claiming option. Australasia is a Louisiana-bred taking on open horses but already has shown she can handle that. Debuting in November 2020 at Fair Grounds, Australasia crushed Louisiana-bred competition in her first four races, three of them stakes, before going on to defeat open first-level allowance foes in April at Churchill. She hit a peak June 6 at Belmont, beating subsequent Grade 1 Test winner Bella Sofia by one length in the Jersey Girl, but Australasia fell apart the next month in the Grade 3 Victory Ride; she was eased across the finish and hasn’t started since.

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“She’s breezed really well since she’s been down at Fair Grounds and she’d trained well enough up at Keeneland, too,” Cox said, awaiting departure from LAX. “It’s a very good spot for her to get back going. It appears to be a solid group, but she matches up well with them.”

It is a solid group, and Euphoric, if speed is holding decently Monday, can post a mild upset. Last season at Fair Grounds, Euphoric finished second to the good filly Li’l Tootsie in a maiden sprint, then won a similar race by more than 10 lengths and a first-level allowance sprint by five. Her lone start this meet came in stakes company and, more importantly, on grass, and Euphoric is no grass horse.

T D Dance is and could be very playable at something close to his 6-1 morning-line odds in race 8, another third-level allowance with an $80,000 claiming option, this one carded for about 1 1/16 miles on turf. T D Dance looked average finishing fifth in the Black Gold Stakes last February at Fair Grounds but won an allowance race before meet’s end and went on to win the James W. Murphy on May 15 at Pimlico, showing a turn of foot that hadn’t been present in his earlier starts. T D Dance got in enough trouble for five races in the Mystic Lake Derby, still managing to miss by only a head, and has “gotten ready quick,” Cox said, for this comeback run.

“He’s always been a good work horse, and his last work for this race was very good,” he said.

Among T D Dance’s competition is Excess Magic, who won the age-restricted Woodchopper Stakes in December but runs for the $80,000 claiming option Monday.