Good Cheer headlines trio of fast 3-year-old fillies for Cox

With leading foes Ballerina d’Oro and Simply Joking scratched, Good Cheer did what she was supposed to do at odds of 1-9 Saturday: Score an easy win over just three rivals Saturday in the Grade 3, $250,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes at Fair Grounds.

Regardless of competition, or lack thereof, Good Cheer, who's won all five of her career races, got a different kind of trip than in any of her four starts at age 2. She earned a career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figure, fast enough to suggest she’s moved forward at age 3, but not so fast as to trigger regression in her next start.

Good Cheer raced last but stuck close to the pace, and rather than looping rivals, jockey Luis Saez stayed on the rail until the quarter pole, splitting foes as Good Cheer gathered momentum and drew clear late to win by 6 1/2 lengths.

“I thought it was a good schooling race,” trainer Brad Cox said Sunday. “And she looks solid this morning.”

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Cox said Good Cheer would run back in either the Fair Grounds Oaks or Keeneland's Ashland Stakes.

Cox also trains leading Kentucky Oaks hope Muhimma, the unbeaten winner of the Grade 2 Demoiselle, and unveiled another fast 3-year-old filly Saturday at Fair Grounds. First-time starter Velvet Vortex had to work to beat second-time starter Velvet Devil by three-quarters of a length, but the top two finished more than eight lengths ahead of the third-place horse, and Velvet Vortex’s six furlongs in 1:09.56 produced an 89 Beyer.

Cox believes Velvet Vortex, by Complexity, can stretch out to longer distances, but whether and where she might get a chance to prove that has yet to be determined.

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