Cox stablemates Heavenly Sunday, Flashy Gem must stay out of each other's way in Edgewood Stakes
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – About an hour before trainer Brad Cox sends out a trio of key contenders in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, he will have two more of his top caliber 3-year-old fillies in Heavenly Sunday and Flashy Gem among the key players in the $500,000 Edgewood Stakes. The Grade 2 Edgewood will be decided at a mile and one-sixteenth on the turf.
Heavenly Sunday has finished third, beaten 1 1/4 lengths, in each of her starts at 3, the Grade 3 Sweetest Chant at Gulfstream Park and the Grade 2 Appalachian last month at Keeneland. Flashy Gem has made her only two appearances this season over the synthetic surface at Turfway, registering an easy gate-to-wire allowance win to launch the campaign before returning to finish second behind stablemate and Kentucky Oaks-bound Botanical in the Bourbonette Oaks.
“Heavenly Sunday had a good run last time,” Cox said. “I thought she finished up well. She’s been very competitive in her last two starts. This is her third run off a layoff and we’d love to get her over the top for a graded stakes win.
“The other filly has also run two very good races and has been working extremely well on the dirt here. Although her last two races have been on the synthetic, she got some experience on the turf last year. And the way she’s training, she should be able to transfer her synthetic form to the grass.”
Cox said he’s cognizant of the fact his fillies look like they should have a major say in the early pace.
“We’re going to have to figure that out,” Cox said. “We don’t want the two of them to eat each other up. That will all be up to the jocks, but I think they both should sit good trips.”
Heavenly Sunday is one of four members of the Edgewood lineup exiting the one-mile Appalachian, won by Papilio, who rallied from near the rear of the field turning for home to register a neck decision over Cairo Consort. It was the second time in as many meetings that Papilio had edged out Cairo Consort at the wire, having finished a nose in front of that same rival when the pair were second and third behind Danse Macabre in the Grade 3 Herecomesthebride during winter at Gulfstream.
Trainer Chad Brown will send out a trio of promising fillies of his own in the Edgewood, topped by Liguria, who has been idle since winning the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante at Del Mar five months earlier. She will be joined in the gate by stablemates Revalita, who finished a fast-closing fourth, another half-length behind Cairo Consort in the Herecomesthebride, and Preliminary, an impressive winner at Gulfstream of her only start this year.
Mission of Joy and Comanche Country are also graded stakes winners. Mission of Joy completed a three-race win streak with a come-from-behind neck triumph in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs. Comanche Country registered a half-length decision as the 4-5 favorite in the Grade 3 Surfer Girl last fall at Santa Anita, and ran second in the China Doll there in her only start this year.
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