Green Mask good fit for Troy Stakes

Trainer Brad Cox has been quietly successful during the opening four weeks of the Saratoga meet, having sent out two winners from just five starters. But he will kick into high gear over the next week, sending out contenders in three upcoming stakes, including likely favorite Green Mask in Saturday’s $100,000 Troy Stakes.

Green Mask is the class of the Troy lineup, having finished third, beaten less than a length, in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. He also finished third, beaten a length, in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint in Dubai last year, both of those races while trained by Wesley Ward.

Green Mask joined Cox’s barn this spring and exits his best effort in three starts for his new mentor, a second-place finish when beaten a neck in Woodbine’s Grade 2 Highlander seven weeks ago.

“We experimented with him a little bit when we first got him at Churchill Downs in the Opening Verse to see if he’d handle a two-turn mile, and obviously he could not,” said Cox. “We wheeled him back three weeks later in the Jaipur at Belmont and didn’t get the greatest of trips near the inside, but I thought he ran very well. We brought him back in three weeks again in Canada, put the blinkers on him, and the equipment change put him in the game a little more, and he just missed.”

Green Mask has trained well on both turf and dirt since shipping to Saratoga, and Cox is hopeful that the 5-year-old gelding will be able to finally snap an 11-race losing streak that dates to his victory in the seven-furlong Paradise Creek at Belmont Park in May 2014.

“He’s had plenty of time to recover from his last effort, I think 5 1/2 furlongs is right in his wheelhouse, and Johnny Velazquez should fit him very well,” Cox said.

Greek Mask, who was cross-entered in Saturday’s Play the King, a seven-furlong turf race at Woodbine, will face a solid group in the Troy that also includes Long On Value, who turned back to 5 1/2 furlongs to win the Lucky Coin for trainer Bill Mott four weeks ago. And Mott is hopeful that four weeks is enough time for Long On Value to recover from the effort.

“With him, I sometimes prefer to have him a little fresher,” said Mott. “But for most horses, that’s a reasonable amount of time.”

Mott will also send out Songsational, who makes his stakes debut in a field that also features key contenders Disco Partner, Spring to the Sky, High Noon Rider, and Asset Inflation.

Cox will also have key players in a pair of graded stakes next Saturday on Travers Day. He plans to run Spelling Again in the Grade 1 Ballerina and Sweet Acclaim in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa.

Spelling Again is already guaranteed a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint by virtue of her victory in the Grade 2 Princess Rooney last month at Gulfstream Park. The Ballerina will give Cox a better idea of whether she will fit with the competition she’s likely to encounter in the Breeders’ Cup this fall at Santa Anita.

“She’s already a dual Grade 2 winner, so we thought why not try her in the Grade 1 here and see how she stacks up?” said Cox. “She’s a tough filly to deal with. She’s very temperamental, but she’s been good to us, so we’ll see how it goes for her over the next several months. We’re going to point for the Breeders’ Cup, but we’ll let her determine whether we jump on the plane and go out there.”

Sweet Acclaim has won three of her last four starts, including a victory in the Ellis Park Turf, and has previous experience over the local course, having finished fourth here two years ago in the Grade 2 Lake George for trainer Chad Brown.

“She’s doing great, and I think she’s very, very talented,” said Cox. “We know it’s a big step up over what she’s been running against. It’s a Grade 2 race that looks to be coming up like a Grade 1. It’s deep water, but we’re ready to jump into the pool and see if she can swim.”