The Good Life prevails in Hopeful, and Cox, Franco are loving it
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - No doubt, trainer Brad Cox and jockey Manny Franco were living the good life this summer at Saratoga.
On Sunday, Cox and Franco combined to win the final Grade 1 of the meet with The Good Life, who broke running from the rail, opened up a clear advantage after the opening half-mile and kept on going to win the $300,000 Hopeful by four lengths. The maiden Mystrix, who chased The Good Life throughout, finished second by 1 1/4 lengths over Booked.
Lifesong finished fourth followed by Midnight Still, Flight Command and High Official. Constant Force was scratched in the post parade on the advice of the track veterinarian.
The win was the fourth on the day for Franco, who earlier on the card won the Grade 3 Prioress Stakes to clinch his first Saratoga riding title. He has won 70 races - a Saratoga meet record - including four Grade 1 stakes and 11 stakes overall.
“It feels unreal,” Franco told NYRA’s Maggie Wolfendale before he went into the winner’s circle. “This is the summer of a lifetime.”
Cox won his 22nd race of the meet - a personal best at Saratoga - and eighth with a 2-year-old in the Hopeful.
The Good Life is responsible for two of those juvenile wins. On July 18, he used his speed from post 2 to beat five rivals in a six-furlong maiden race. On Sunday, breaking from the rail, he did the same, carving out fractions of 22.71 seconds for the quarter, 45.40 for the half-mile, 1:10.44 for six furlongs with Mystrix and Kendrick Carmouche stalking from second. In the stretch, The Good Life opened up a 3 1/2-length lead and wound up winning by four. The Good Life completed seven furlongs in 1:24.08. He returned $7.14 as the favorite.
“When we were there the way we were I felt fairly comfortable we could stay on,” Cox said. “Going into the turn, it looked like [Carmouche] started riding his horse a little bit. This horse had a lot of natural speed, a lot like the stallion. Big win for WinStar, the stallion, and obviously this horse.”
The Good Life is owned by his breeder WinStar Farm, as well as First Go Racing and China Horse Club. He is the first Grade 1 winner for the stallion Life Is Good.
Franco said he didn’t expect to be on the lead in the Hopeful “but the way he broke I said I got to go with the flow,” Franco said. “He went to the lead and I was cruising. He was doing it the right way, so I was happy about that.”
It appeared The Good Life was slowing down a little bit in midstretch, but Franco said he wasn’t tiring.
“I would say he idled a little bit when he opened up on horses, but he’s got stamina,” Franco said.
Mystrix, a maiden coming into the race, pretty much validated trainer Danny Gargan’s decision to scratch out of a maiden race Saturday - won impressively by U.S.S. Valor - with a good second-place finish.
“I’m really pleased with him, we were wanting to break and sit third or fourth, no one went [for the lead],” Gargan said. “Kendrick said ‘I had to go a little bit down the backside and use him a little bit because the other horse was loping by himself.’ Kendrick said when we stretch him out, he’s going to be a lot better.”
The Good Life will have the usual options for his next start - the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park or the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, both on Oct. 3.
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