Taraz confirmed for Martha Washington Stakes at Oaklawn

The highly promising Fair Grounds-based 3-year-old filly Taraz will make her 2020 debut in the Martha Washington Stakes on Feb. 1 at Oaklawn Park, trainer Brad Cox said Friday.

Cox and owner-breeder Juddmonte Farms were considering several races for Taraz, including the Jan. 21 Silverbulletday at Fair Grounds, but elected to ship her to Oaklawn, where Cox has a string of horses.

Taraz has sprinted twice to start her career, and the one-mile Martha Washington, while contested around two turns, ends at the sixteenth pole, thus cutting down the length of the homestretch and making the race more of a stepping-stone to a true two-turn test. Cox believes Taraz will prove good enough to get to the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks in May.

Taraz, a massive filly by Into Mischief out of Silk Route, by Empire Maker, won her career debut last November at Churchill Downs by more than seven lengths and captured the six-furlong Letellier Stakes over a sloppy track Dec. 21 at Fair Grounds despite being geared down to the wire by jockey Florent Geroux.

Cox also trains British Idiom, who is certain to be named champion 2-year-old filly of 2019 and is training at Fair Grounds for a start in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes on Feb. 15. Cox plans to start the filly Portrait in the Silverbulletday.