Mandaloun likely for Risen Star Stakes, Cox says

Over the last year, Brad Cox has found far more triumph than disappointment on big race days. Take, for instance, the Breeders’ Cup, where he won four races with seven-figure purses over the course of the two-day meeting at Keeneland.

But Saturday at Fair Grounds didn’t go as well for Cox. Secret Message won the $100,000 Marie Krantz Memorial, and Cox knocked out a turf maiden win with the Juddmonte Farms homebred Fulsome, but odds-on Juddmonte favorites could not find the winner’s circle in the Silverbulletday and the Lecomte.

Mandaloun actually ran just fine in the Lecomte, finishing third, beaten a head for second while one length behind victorious Midnight Bourbon. The Lecomte marked Mandaloun’s stakes and two-turn debut, but the Into Mischief colt was a 4-5 favorite and didn’t live up to that level of hype.

“I didn’t think he ran bad at all, and I had more questions with him than with Sun Path. He accepted the two turns, maybe not as well as I expected,” Cox said.

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Cox said Mandaloun looked very well on Sunday morning. Discussions will take place with Juddmonte’s North American racing manager Garrett O’Rourke, but Cox said strong consideration will be given to running Mandaloun in blinkers. Mandaloun, Cox said, is a likely starter next month in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes over 1 1/8 miles.

As for Sun Path, she tried stakes competition for the first time but already had crushed a two-turn Fair Grounds allowance field last month and looked formidable in the Silverbulletday – right up to the point where she didn’t. Pressing a slow pace (all the dirt-route stakes Saturday unfolded at a strangely slow tempo), Sun Path had the lead at the top of the stretch but came up empty and finished fourth, beaten four lengths.

“She came out of it in good order, looked great. I can’t give her an excuse, and she’s the one that needed one,” Cox said. “I do think we’re going to give her time, from the standpoint of not running her back in the Rachel. We could possibly point for the Honeybee [at Oaklawn] or just wait for the Fair Grounds Oaks. In the end, it’s just January, and we’re hoping these horses are going to be at their best in May.”

Title Ready may run in Dubai World Cup

Title Ready, making the first start of his 6-year-old season, won his first graded stakes by taking the Grade 3 Louisiana on Saturday, earning a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure. It was a good win for the horse, who is not gelded, and his connections are looking for even more.

“We’re thrilled,” said Dallas Stewart, who trains the Chuck Fipke homebred. “He came back great and we’re really thinking about the Dubai World Cup.”

Stewart said since Title Ready ran so well off a two-month break in the Louisiana, he’d be inclined to go to Dubai fresh. That $12 million race is scheduled for March 27.