Belmont festival: Good Cheer leads 5 stakes contenders for Cox

Twi-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox has enjoyed abundant success at the Belmont Stakes racing festival in years past, and this year he is well-armed with a talented quintet topped by the undefeated Good Cheer, who takes on Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn at Saratoga.

Godolphin’s Kentucky homebred daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, who is 7-for-7 lifetime, gave every indication in her breeding that she could be brilliant on the racetrack. Her sire already produced Hall of Fame fillies Rachel Alexandra and Songbird, among others, and her dam Wedding Toast was a dual Grade 1-winner for Godolphin.

Still, Cox knows that the proof lies in the afternoons.

“We liked her in the beginning,” Cox said. “I’m not going to sit here and say we thought she was going to win the Kentucky Oaks. We kind of had to see it along the way.”

The journey began in August at Horseshoe Indianapolis with a statement-making debut from the bay filly, dominating a one-mile maiden by 8 1/4 lengths with German Terraza aboard. Her next start would more than validate the breakout debut, pairing up with Luis Saez for the first time to dazzle in a 17-length trouncing of a 1 1/16-mile allowance at Churchill Downs.

Good Cheer has never parted with Saez since, and the pair have gone on a dizzying ascent to the top of her division with open-length scores in the Rachel Alexandra (G2) and Fair Grounds Oaks (G2) at the New Orleans track this year after juvenile wins in the listed Rags to Riches and Golden Rod (G2) at Churchill.

“She’s been a clear winner in all of her races. She’s been pretty dominant in the afternoons, and hopefully with a good trip, we’ll see more of the same (Frida),” Cox said.

With Godolphin and Cox’s champion 2-year-old filly Immersive sidelined early this year, Good Cheer not only carried the torch to the Kentucky Oaks (G1), but she took on the role of leading filly in the barn as she entered the prestigious nine-furlong test as the heavy favorite in a loaded field of 13. Despite early bumping with rivals and a wide trip in both turns, Good Cheer again made easy work of the task at hand and drew clear to a 2 1/4-length triumph.

And class is just the word Cox uses to explain how a filly like Good Cheer continues to put forth exemplary performances.

“Someone asked me one word to describe her, and it’s real easy. It’s ‘class,’ ” Cox said. “She’s a great mover and she covers a lot of ground. Great mind, easy to train, easy to be around. She’s very classy to deal with. There’s a lot of stamina in the pedigree and the further we go, the better she’s going to get.”

One mark of class is the ability to perform away from home, and Good Cheer already has done that with wins over three surfaces. She has taken to Saratoga’s main track for the last few mornings and galloped Thursday shortly after the conclusion of the renovation break.

“She’s handling herself really well, schooled (Wednesday), and I think she’s ready to roll,” Cox said. “Her last two works have been really good, and she’s always been a steady work horse. She always does enough and it looks like she’s actually picked it up a little since the Oaks. I’m expecting her to run big. She’s not working any faster, but it looks like it’s easier for her.”

Saez and Good Cheer will look to give Godolphin and Cox more to celebrate as they exit post 2 on Friday as the 1-2 morning-line favorite.

Godolphin and Cox also will team up in Friday’s Ogden Phipps (G1) with multiple graded stakes-winner Tarifa, who seeks her first top-level score after two previous Grade 1 placings.

The Ogden Phipps offers a win-and-you’re-in berth to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in November at Del Mar.

Cox said the Grade 1 status of the Ogden Phipps status is what led them to race in New York rather than in the Shawnee (G3) at Churchill last weekend.

“She’s a three-time Grade 2 winner, and she’s had some luck in New York with winning the Mother Goose,” Cox said, referring to a head victory in the Mother Goose (G2) in October at Belmont at the Big A. “We are trying to win a Grade 1 with her.

“She’s knocked on the door in the Cotillion and Beholder Mile,” Cox added of her previous Grade 1 placings. “She’s going to have to get a good trip. She didn’t get away well last time and got shuffled back early in the race. Hopefully with a good, clean trip, she’ll be right there. You don’t win these Grade 1 races with rough trips.”

Tarifa will emerge from post 6 in rein to Saez.

On Saturday, a compact but competitive field of five will assemble for the Metropolitan Handicap (G1), including the Cox-trained Just a Touch as he takes on multiple Grade 1 winners Fierceness and White Abarrio.

Just a Touch, owned by Qatar Racing, Resolute Racing and Marc Detampel, has won his last two starts by a combined 17 1/2 lengths, taking a last-out nine-furlong optional claimer at Keeneland by seven lengths in a dazzling performance that garnered a 104 Beyer Speed Figure from Daily Racing Form. The win more than backed up a 10 1/2-length allowance score going 1 1/16 miles in March at Fair Grounds that yielded a 102 Beyer.

Cox said an eight-month freshening after a close second in the listed Iowa Derby in July has allowed the son of Justify to flourish as a 4-year-old.

“He’s a very talented horse, and he’s a horse that we always thought could compete at the Grade 1 level,” Cox said. “He ran great in the Blue Grass (G1) last year (finishing second), and we probably asked a lot of him in a short period of time from January to May. The Iowa Derby didn’t go as well as we were hoping, but he came back this year and was like, ‘wow.’ ”

Florent Geroux will ride from post 4 in a race that Cox said could very well go his way.

“I felt like we put a plan together to have two nice races off the layoff and then take a shot at a Grade 1, and here we are,” Cox said. “There’s a reason it’s a short field with two world-class horses in there. We’re here to win it, and I think we can. I don’t know if I’d call it an upset, but he’d have to move forward. If he does, he’ll be right there.”

Cox’s weekend runners are completed by the duo of Patch Adams and Gunmetal for owners CHC Inc. and WinStar Farm in Saturday’s seven-furlong Woody Stephens (G1).

“They’re good colts, and I think they need to get good trips and have jocks that are judging the pace well,” Cox said. “I think based off the history of the race and the form, it’s going to be a good pace. We’ll see how the jocks can navigate it.”

Patch Adams, who has gone off favored in each of his five starts, was an eye-catching 10 1/2-length winner at second asking sprinting seven furlongs in November at Churchill, but he faltered when stretched out to two turns with fourth-place finishes in a pair of Kentucky Derby prep routes this winter. He returned to sprinting with aplomb last out, earning a 96 Beyer for a 2 1/4-length allowance coup going seven furlongs on May 3 at Churchill.

“He gave us a lot of reason to be pumped up about him since he started his career, and I do think he’s shown that’s what he wants to do (go one turn),” Cox said of the Into Mischief chestnut.

Gunmetal also enters off an impressive allowance score, stalking and pouncing to a 3 3/4-length win on April 8 sprinting six furlongs at Keeneland. The son of Gun Runner won his six-furlong debut in December at Fair Grounds ahead of a third-place finish in the listed Swale in February at Gulfstream.

“He’s very good as well. We’ve marked this spot since the Keeneland allowance, where he was very impressive,” Cox said.