Klein hopes to have Field Day provide a late birthday gift
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Richard Klein didn’t exactly invent Brad Cox, but he sure was in on the ground floor of the making of an Eclipse Award-winning trainer.
Not long after Cox went out on his own in the fall of 2004, Klein and his late parents, Bert and Elaine, were the first owners with considerable means to employ Cox.
“I guess you could say we were onto him early,” recalled Klein. “We saw his work ethic and how his mind works, so we gave him a few of our cheaper horses to help get him started.”
Cox has come a very long way since then. He was voted the 2020 Eclipse for outstanding trainer, and with a client roster that’s virtually unmatched in American racing today, he’s poised to start three horses in the upcoming Kentucky Derby, including the race favorite, Essential Quality.
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Before then, however, Cox will return to his roots. Saturday night, opening night of the Churchill Downs spring meet, he’ll saddle Field Day, a Klein homebred, as a major contender in the featured William Walker, a 5 1/2-furlong turf race for 3-year-olds. Field Day will be making his fifth start of the year following two solid efforts at Fair Grounds, then two more at Gulfstream Park. A victory in the $125,000 Walker would be a fitting birthday gift for Klein, who turns 63 on Friday.
“The horse had a real nice breeze over the grass here Sunday, so we should be all set,” Cox said.
Field Day is part of an oversubscribed lineup from which as many as 10 can start in the Walker, the highlight of a 10-race evening card. First post is 6 p.m. Eastern, with the last race going at 10:42.
This will be the first night card at Churchill since Sept. 28, 2019, with none being held last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. The 38-day spring meet also will end with night racing when the Stephen Foster anchors a June 26 card with six other stakes. Twilight Thursdays, with a 5 p.m. post, also make their return at this meet.
There will be no racing here Sunday, with five straight daytime cards to be run Tuesday through Kentucky Derby Day. Post-Derby, the regular four-day schedule is Thursdays through Sundays, with racing on Memorial Day, May 31, the lone exception.