Essential Quality, Monomoy Girl finally get their chance

The trainer Brad Cox had not one, but two 2020 champions all dressed up and ready to go to their first race of 2021. Then winter hit Arkansas with a fury.

Instead of shipping from New Orleans, where they have been based all winter, to Oaklawn for the Feb. 15 Bayakoa Stakes and Southwest Stakes, Monomoy Girl and Essential Quality remained at Fair Grounds when those races were postponed because of the inclement weather.

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Essential Quality, the champion 2-year-old male last year, posted breezes on Feb. 14 and Feb. 20. Monomoy Girl, the champion older female last year, worked on Feb. 14 and Feb. 21.

The situation is less than ideal – pointing for a specific race, then having to wait. But Cox said things have gone fine for Essential Quality, now slated to start Saturday in the Southwest, and Monomoy Girl, set for the Bayakoa on Sunday.

“The work is all done now, and we’ll see how it goes, but so far, it’s been no problem,” Cox said Sunday of the delay. “They were ready to run that Monday; we just had to work twice extra. But they’re right where they need to be.”

They are now scheduled to ship Wednesday, Feb. 24, to Oaklawn. Cox especially wants to give the lightly raced Essential Quality a couple of gallops over the Oaklawn surface and a schooling session or two in Oaklawn’s indoor paddock. Monomoy Girl, at age 6, knows the ropes by now, and Cox said Essential Quality has been straightforward while awaiting his first start since winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

“He’s a pretty sensible colt,” said Cox. “We’re just looking forward to getting him up there.”

Cox already won a 3-year-old dirt-route stakes at Oaklawn this meet when Caddo River romped in the Smarty Jones. Before the worst of the winter weather hit Oaklawn, Cox sent Caddo River to Fair Grounds, where he has worked twice, including a bullet five furlongs in 59.60 on Saturday, a breeze Cox called “fantastic.” Caddo River is scheduled to start next month in the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn.

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Cox made the same move to avoid lost training time with several other stakes horses he had based in Arkansas, among them Owendale, who races Saturday in the Razorback Handicap. Also shifting to Fair Grounds was 2020 Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil, who posted her second work in New Orleans going an easy half on Feb. 20. The day before, Bonny South, who won the Fair Grounds Oaks last season, worked a half-mile. Both fillies are far enough from launching their season that Cox declined to speculate on a comeback spot for either.

Back for a 6-year-old campaign in 2021, with the goal of knocking out a Grade 1 win, is the turf mare Juliet Foxtrot, who has worked three times and could make a start in April at Keeneland.

And, finally, Cox said that the 3-year-old colt Mandaloun had a good week after winning the Feb. 20 Risen Star at Fair Grounds. Mandaloun will have a mild workout Saturday, his first breeze on the way to the March 20 Louisiana Derby.