Monomoy Girl to rejoin Cox's stable in coming days

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Monomoy Girl, last year’s champion 3-year-old filly who has spent the past few months at WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., after a mild case of colic in the spring, is mere days away from a return to the racetrack. Trainer Brad Cox said she was likely to rejoin his Churchill Downs barn on Friday or Saturday with a goal of training toward the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 2.

Unraced since winning the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, culminating a year in which she won five Grade 1 stakes, including the Kentucky Oaks, she had been initially pointed toward the Grade 1 La Troienne at Churchill Downs on Derby Day before those plans were derailed. With her connections exercising caution, she received several days of treatment at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington before heading to WinStar.

Updates from WinStar regarding her condition and weight have been favorable, leaving Cox excited for her return. In recent weeks there, she has resumed training, first jogging and then galloping in preparation for a resumption of full racetrack training.

Still, her trainer is in no hurry to outline a complete fall schedule with her, wanting to observe her progression. “Great expectations come with great disappointment,” he said. “Want to take it day by day.”

Although Monomoy Girl won’t be racing for a little while, the coming weeks promise to be busy ones for many of the stakes horses in the Cox barn as they pursue lucrative prizes across the country.

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This weekend, he has Pioneer Spirit, Mylady Curlin, Dot Matrix, and Limari in stakes on the Indiana Derby undercard Saturday night, and the following day Break Even goes in the $100,000 Coronation Cup at Saratoga.

Unbeaten in five races on dirt, including the Grade 2 Eight Belles on Kentucky Derby Day, Break Even will try grass racing for the first time in the Coronation Cup over 5 1/2 furlongs. A homebred owned by Klein Racing, she is by Country Day, a multiple stakes-winning sprinter who finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint in 2011.

“We’re not ruling out of the Test,” a Grade 1 stakes at seven furlongs on dirt at Saratoga on Aug. 3, Cox said. “We’re entering with the idea of maybe coming back in the Test or the Prioress,” a Grade 2 at Saratoga going six furlongs on Aug. 31.

Covfefe, the winner of the Grade 3 Ms. Preakness on May 17 at Pimlico, remains ticketed for the Test for Cox after a close third to older mares in the Roxelana at Churchill Downs on June 22.

Other Cox trainees pursuing major stakes next month include Arklow, aimed for the Grade 1 Arlington Million on Aug. 10, and Beau Recall, who has the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon on Aug. 3 at Del Mar in her plans.

The Grade 3 Kentucky Turf Cup, a race Arklow won last year, is once again a fall goal. The race, boosted to $1 million this year, is Sept. 7 at Kentucky Downs.