Essential Quality works five furlongs with Golden Rod winner Travel Column

The morning after sending out odds-on favorites in two Fair Grounds 3-year-old dirt-route stakes, trainer Brad Cox put two even more accomplished 3-year-olds through a team workout on Sunday in New Orleans.

Essential Quality, who will be named champion 2-year-old colt of 2020 after capping an unbeaten season with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, went in company with Travel Column, who ended her year winning the Grade 2 Golden Rod in November at Churchill Downs.

The pair worked heads up, Cox said, both getting a time of 1:01.40 for five furlongs, and while Essential Quality is the more accomplished horse, faster on the Beyer Speed Figure scale, Travel Column definitely held her own, according to her trainer. “She’s a great work horse,” he said.

Saturday, Mandaloun finished a solid third as the odds-on favorite in the Lecomte Stakes, his first two-turn race. Cox said Mandaloun is likely to make his next start in blinkers and race in the Risen Star on Feb. 13 at Fair Grounds.

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One might expect Cox would be loath to run Mandaloun and Essential Quality in the same spot, and Essential Quality has the Feb. 15 Southwest at Oaklawn as an option. Distance-wise, the Southwest at 1 1/16 miles could hold more appeal as a comeback race than the 1 1/8-mile Risen Star for Essential Quality, but here’s no official word on where he will make his 3-year-old debut.

The Cox-trained Sun Path faded to fourth as the odds-on favorite in the Silverbulletday on Saturday in her first stakes test. She will get a breather, passing on February races, Cox said. That opens the Feb. 13 Rachel Alexandra at Fair Grounds up for Travel Column, who was a distant third in the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland following a debut win before overcoming a tough trip to capture the Golden Rod. Clairiere, the filly Travel Column ran down to win the Golden Rod, is expected to have her seasonal bow in the Rachel Alexandra.

Also working on Sunday, and sizzling a bullet five furlongs in 59.80, was Monomoy Girl, champion 3-year-old filly of 2018 who is sure to be named champion older dirt female of 2020 after an unbeaten season culminating in Breeders’ Cup Distaff glory. Sunday’s was easily Monomoy Girl’s stiffest breeze since she began working again in December, and Cox is getting serious about turning the screws for the mare’s 2021 unveiling in the Feb. 15 Bayakoa at Oaklawn.

“I’m going to give her a good one next week, too. She’s doing really well, as good now as she was going into the Breeders’ Cup,” said Cox.

Saturday, it was Knicks Go earning the five-furlong bullet, going in 1:00.60 in his final work for Saturday’s Pegasus World Cup. Knicks Go and Pegasus World Cup Turf starter Pixelate were to fly from New Orleans to South Florida Tuesday.

And finally, Prate, the Juddmonte Farms homebred colt who earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure winning his career debut Dec. 19, worked five furlongs in 1:01.20. Prate’s connections will stick to sprint races for the time being. Prate could have showed up in a Sunday allowance race at Fair Grounds, but Cox said the decision had been made to give Prate a little longer break between starts.

◗ The Thursday feature comes as race 7, a first-level dirt-sprint for older horses with a first-level allowance condition and a $17,5000 claiming option. The nine-horse field includes a Louie Roussel-owned and -trained coupled entry of Man of Honor and Wandering West, one of whom will be scratched because Adam Beschizza is named on both. Verified, drawn on the rail, scored a sharp Dec. 27 maiden win returning from an 18-month layoff.

◗ Three-year-old filly Joy’s Rocket, a four-time winner from six starts, and victorious last month in the Letellier Memorial at Fair Grounds, will try two turns for the first time in the one-mile Martha Washington on Jan. 30 at Oaklawn, trainer Steve Asmussen said. Finite, fourth last out in the Grade 1 La Brea, will take on Monomoy Girl in the Feb. 15 Bayakoa at Oaklawn.