Highgrove the class of Cox trio
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The Brad Cox barn has run more than three horses on a single Ellis Park card just once this meet. But the trainer has entrants in five Friday races, including the co-featured sixth and eighth.
Cox had five runners Aug. 2 at Ellis and got blanked, but the morning line suggests he’ll have a great chance with Highgrove, the 4-5 chalk in race 8, a first-level dirt sprint allowance for older fillies and mares.
A sharp, front-running debut winner at Aqueduct, Highgrove faced heavily favored Movie Night in a Churchill first-level allowance about two months ago. The two fillies dueled, but Highgrove succumbed, fading to finish third by nearly nine lengths.
Movie Night didn’t exactly flatter the race’s form when beaten 17 lengths in the Test on Aug. 9, and while Friday’s race includes no horse at Movie Night’s level, it does feature several front-running types, Highgrove included.
In race 6, a first-level allowance for older horses at one mile on dirt, Cox sends Ezum out for his first start since April. Talk about hit and miss: Ezum lost his debut by 24 lengths, won a Colonial maiden race second out by almost 20 lengths, then lost the Lexington Stakes by more than 12 lengths. The line has him at an unappealing 3-1, and the Brendan Walsh-trained Pimlott is the pick.
Cox’s first-time-starting 2-year-old in race 9, National Forest, worked from the gate Aug. 1 in company with Q B Rocket, who went to Saratoga and impressively won his debut. National Forest, however, was not in the same class, prompting his mate to the wire before getting badly outrun on the gallop-out.
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