Cox plotting strategies for some of his top horses
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No one has trained as many graded stakes winners so far this year as Brad Cox, who had 28 such victories as of Sept. 14, and you will see many of the horses that produced those graded stakes scores racing at Keeneland next month.
Deep Flame, the fastest horse on Beyer Speed Figures in the vast Cox stable, didn’t even win the race that produced a 110 Beyer, but he came almost eight lengths closer to Englishman than anyone else in the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes on Aug. 29 at Saratoga.
With Englishman headed straight to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, Deep Flame will hold heavy favoritism when he runs in the Grade 3, $350,000 Perryville on Oct. 17 at Keeneland. Deep Flame in April finished second in a Keeneland maiden race while turning in a performance that would have landed, say 99 out of 100 such contests. Deep Flame lost to Gilded Bandit, who races Saturday at Churchill in the Harrods Creek, while earning a 92 Beyer. His figure rose to 95 in a third-start maiden win at Churchill, then to a 103 when Deep Flame won the Maxfield at Churchill. Beaten 3 3/4 lengths by Englishman, Deep Flame’s a very fast colt in his own right, and, Cox said, will have his first post-Jerkens workout on Wednesday.
Cox won three stakes at the Kentucky Downs meet, all with fillies who will race next at Keeneland.
Stellify scored a repeat victory in the Ladies Turf Marathon and goes on to the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf. She finished seventh in last year’s Filly and Mare Turf hewing to the same race pattern.
Stellify got a 98 Beyer for her 5 1/2-length, front-running victory, but 3-year-old filly Kentucky Belle earned a 101 for her 6 1/4-length tour de force in the Dueling Grounds Oaks. That’s not just the fastest figure for a 3-year-old filly turf horse during 2026, it’s the fastest turf-route figure among all North American-based fillies and mares so far this year. Connections, though, are not plotting a Breeders’ Cup start, but rather have Kentucky Belle aimed at the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at nine furlongs on Oct. 10. Kentucky Belle will be cutting back in distance from the 1 3/16 miles she ran in the Saratoga Oaks and the 1 5/16-mile Dueling Grounds Oaks.
Bless the Broken won the Ladies Turf at Kentucky Downs - her Beyer came back a modest 90 - while making her grass debut and will get a Grade 1 turf chance in the First Lady on Oct. 3 at Keeneland, Cox said.
And, finally, Cox said Eclatant goes straight to the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint after clunking home a distant seventh Aug. 29 in the Grade 1 Ballerina. Eclantant, also scheduled to work Wednesday, won the Grade 1 Madison over seven furlongs in April at Keeneland.
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