Kentucky Derby 2021: Hot Rod Charlie bringing more honor to late breeder

Louisiana Derby winner Hot Rod Charlie is looking to further burnish the credentials of his late breeder, Edward Cox, Jr., in Saturday's Kentucky Derby. Some of the final standout horses bred by Cox, who died in March 2019 at age 83, include Hot Rod Charlie and his half-brother Mitole, a sprint champion.

Cox was the co-breeder of Irish champion juvenile Woodman, who became a successful sire. He also had a long relationship with Claiborne Farm and was a partner in Eclipse Award champion Swale, the star-crossed 1984 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner. Cox also bred Grade 1/Group 1 winners Marquetry and Shaadi, and campaigned Grade 1-winning homebreds Banker’s Lady and Classy Cathy.

Cox purchased the stakes winner Glacken’s Gal, the granddam of Hot Rod Charlie, for $250,000 at the 2008 Keeneland January horses of all ages sale. Her first foal was the Indian Charlie mare Indian Miss. Prior to Hot Rod Charlie’s emergence, she had already established herself as a producer, with her son Mitole the 2019 Eclipse Award champion male sprinter.

Battling illness, Cox elected to disperse his Thoroughbred holdings, with the majority of his horses going through the 2018 Keeneland November breeding stock sale; 20 horses grossed $3,669,000. Hot Rod Charlie was held back for the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale, where the son of Oxbow sold for $17,000 to Erickson Equine as a short yearling. Eight months later, he was pinhooked at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling sale, selling for $110,000 to Dennis O’Neill, the brother of trainer Doug O’Neill.