Cox tries to right ship with Nash in overnight race

When Nash came to Fair Grounds in early December following a sharp second at Keeneland sprinting in his career debut and a blowout two-turn Churchill Downs maiden win that earned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure, his connections, Godolphin and trainer Brad Cox, must have figured the colt could be racing on the Risen Star Stakes card in February. He is, but not in the Risen Star.

After finishing third by three lengths as the 1-2 favorite in the Gun Runner Stakes on Dec. 23 and a well-beaten second Jan. 20 as the 11-10 favorite in the Lecomte Stakes, Nash gets a class drop Saturday when he starts in an age-restricted first-level allowance also open to $100,000 claimers.

“We’d like to get back into the win column with him,” Cox said.

Cox has not given up on Nash as a prospect for the Kentucky Derby, though the colt, by Medaglia d’Oro and out of the Malibu Moon mare Sara Louise, has suggested through fading finishes in his 1 1/16-mile stakes starts that he might have distance limitations. Nash’s dam, a graded stakes-level performer, hit her sweet spot between seven furlongs and one mile.

“He always trains well, and he has Derby points,” Cox said of Nash, whose 13 Derby qualifying points ranked 13th as of Feb. 14. “This is an opportunity to get some confidence back, get back in a Derby prep next time.”

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Jockey Flavien Prat is named on Nash, who races for the first time on Lasix. Prat rode the colt at Keeneland before Florent Geroux took the mount the next three starts. Geroux rides the Cox-trained Ethan Energy, a distant fourth in the Lecomte, in the 1 1/16-mile allowance.

Cox runs Smarty Jones winner Catching Freedom in the Risen Star, and he and Godolphin have another interesting 3-year-old route prospect, Cornishman, in race 9, a 1 1/16-mile maiden contest. Cornishman, a massive colt by Curlin, had a poor start sprinting in his Jan. 20 debut, closing from seventh at the stretch call to finish second by one length before galloping out far in front.

“He’s a very exciting horse,” said Cox, who expects Cornishman to break better Saturday. “He’s trained very, very well since his first run.”

Cox this past Sunday got the promising Juddmonte homebred 3-year-old filly Impel back to work, the filly breezing a half-mile in her first drill since Jan. 20.

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“She had a minor setback, nothing major. She had a good move [Sunday] and responded very well. We’ll do a little more thinking about where we’re going to run,” Cox said.

Impel’s lone start came Jan. 1, when she captured a six-furlong maiden by three lengths, earning an 84 Beyer. Runner-up Tipsy Tammy came back to win a maiden sprint with an 89 Beyer.

Cox said he expected First Mission, ninth as the 5-2 second choice in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup, to resume breezing this weekend at Fair Grounds. The 4-year-old colt could be a candidate for the New Orleans Classic on March 23.

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