Cox sets stakes record, wins fifth straight training title

Brad Cox opened the Churchill Downs fall meet much the same way he concluded the Keeneland fall meet – saddling a stakes winner.

Cox sent out a meet-record six stakes winners at the Keeneland stand that concluded on Saturday – Immersive in the Grade 1 Alcbiades and Federal Judge in the Grade 2 Phoenix on Oct. 4; Idiomatic in the Grade 1 Spinster on Oct. 6; Emery in the Grade 2 Raven Run on Oct. 19; Chop Chop in the Grade 3 Dowager on Oct. 20; and Hit Show in the closing-day Grade 2 Fayette. The previous record for stakes wins by a trainer at a Keeneland meet was four, a mark shared by Chad Brown, Mark Casse, Ben Jones, D. Wayne Lukas, Graham Motion, and Todd Pletcher.

Bolstered by those, Cox won 14 races to secure his fifth consecutive Keeneland fall meet title, and sixth title at the track overall, easily outpacing Rodolphe Brisset with nine wins.

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“It means a lot,” Cox said. “Keeneland, I mean, we’re a Kentucky-based operation, it means a lot to us. I feel like our 2-year-olds really start coming into their own this time of year, and our older horses really showed up. It’s been a great meet all around.”

Among the 2-year-olds showing up this fall is Good Cheer, who remained unbeaten in three starts winning the Rags to Riches Stakes on opening day at Churchill Downs – a Stars of Tomorrow all-juvenile program on which Cox saddled two winners. Good Cheer gave him another stakes-performing juvenile filly this season, along with Immersive, who will be one of the favorites in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies this Friday at Del Mar.

Meanwhile, among the older horses coming forward is Hit Show, who won his third straight graded stakes race taking the Fayette. Cox said the Grade 2 Clark, on Nov. 29 at Churchill Downs, would be the “logical spot” for the colt’s next outing. But after that, Hit Show, privately purchased over the summer by Qatar-based Wathnan Racing, could be hitting the road.

“I think he is meant, at some point, to race in the Middle East,” Cox said.

Meanwhile, Tyler Gaffalione won his fifth fall meet, and eighth overall, Keeneland riding title with 24 wins to 20 for Luis Saez. Among his wins were four stakes – the Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile on Carl Spackler, the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity on East Avenue, the Raven Run on Emery for Cox, and the Grade 3 Sycamore on Highway Robber.

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