The statistic ought to jump off the page: From the most recent sample in the Daily Racing Form database, 36 percent of 45 horses won their first start after moving into the barn of trainer Brad Cox. Peruse the Cox stat lines, and that 36 percent hardly stands as an outlier.

Cox has won with 28 percent of his last 688 dirt starters and with 27 percent of his last 543 route runners. He’s 41 percent with horses going sprint to route, 35 percent first off the claim, and – this is the whopper – 28 percent from 180 graded-stakes runners.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan and Horse of the Year favorite Thorpedo Anna arrived at Gulfstream Park on Sunday and were out on the track for routine jogs on Monday.

Last Friday, trainer Jose D’Angelo brought the 3-year-old filly Frida back to the races off a seven-month layoff and she roared to a 5 3/4-length maiden victory at Gulfstream Park.

Thursday, D’Angelo is set to bring the 3-year-old colt Boundfortrouble back to the races off a similar freshening in a first-level allowance race at Gulfstream hoping for the same result. Boundfortrouble, unraced since a maiden triumph in his second start on June 7, drew the outside post in a seven-horse field of 3-year-olds set to run five furlongs over the Tapeta surface.

Owen Almighty, one of the more impressive 2-year-olds of midsummer 2024, will make his 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. The purse of the seven-furlong Pasco is $150,000, though only Florida-breds or progeny of Florida stallions run for the entire purse.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Handy Dandy has been disqualified from a win and placed last in a $42,000 race at Del Mar in August after a positive medication test, according to a ruling published on Saturday by Santa Anita stewards.

Handy Dandy tested positive for tranexamic acid, a medication used to treat bleeding disorders in horses, according to published studies.

Handy Dandy won a conditional $32,000 claimer at 1 1/8 miles on turf on Aug. 25 as the 9-2 second choice in a field of 10. Handy Dandy earned $24,000, which has been ordered to be forfeited, according to the ruling.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Clear the Air, an impressive allowance winner at Saratoga five months ago, returns to the races Thursday at Aqueduct on an eight-race card that includes a trio of solid allowance races.

Clear the Air runs in a third-level allowance/optional $80,000 claimer, that drew only five horses and kicks off the proceedings at 12:40 p.m.