Mr. Misunderstood tops Cox-trained exacta in River City Handicap

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mr. Misunderstood continued his excellence over the Churchill Downs turf course Saturday in the Grade 3, $100,000 River City Handicap, winning his fourth race there from as many starts by overtaking his front-running stablemate Big Changes.

Confidently handled by regular rider Florent Geroux, Mr. Misunderstood was always within range of the leader, settling in third about 1 1/2 lengths behind for much of the race. He needed this up-close positioning with Big Changes – a winner of five straight – waltzing up on the lead through fractions of 25.88 seconds, 52.52, and 1:18.74 in the 1 1/8-mile race.

Leaving the last of two turns, Big Changes was cut loose by his rider, Julien Leparoux, but it wasn’t enough to contain Mr. Misunderstood, the 121-pound highweight. After being angled out at the head of the lane, Mr. Misunderstood quickly accelerated to catch the leader and then maintained a narrow advantage from the eighth pole to the wire, finishing a half-length in front.

“He likes this turf course,” said Geroux. “Sometimes the Churchill turf course can be a little bit funny, especially in the fall.”

Autumn often presents more tiring conditions on the Churchill grass, which was evident in the fractional times as well as in Mr. Misunderstood’s winning time of 1:55.94 over yielding ground. He paid $3.40.

Big Changes finished well clear of the rest of the pack, 4 1/2 lengths in front of third-place Team Colors. Sir Dudley Digges and Flatlined completed the order of finish in a race that was depleted by the scratches of Master Merion, Postulation, and Oscar Nominated.

The Mr. Misunderstood-Big Changes exacta in the River City provided trainer Brad Cox with a one-two finish, and the victory gave him the 999th winner of his training career.

“I messed up, should have been a dead heat,” Geroux quipped, which would have given Cox two victories and therefore a milestone 1,000th winner.

The River City marked the second graded stakes win of 2018 for Mr. Misunderstood, a 4-year-old Archarcharch gelding owned by Flurry Racing Stables, who won the Grade 2 Wise Dan at Churchill under Geroux in June. A five-time stakes winner last year as a 3-year-old, he is now 11 for 16 over his career on turf with earnings on all surfaces of $772,354.

“That horse really fired home today and Big Changes ran a big race as well,” Cox said. “Proud of both of them.”