Cox explains how his Breeders’ Cup horses have Calif. speed

The very idea of California speed had Brad Cox more than intrigued. The thought of it before he left Kentucky this week to go to the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar emboldened his tone as he outlined the progress of the six horses he will train in the championships Friday and Saturday.

“I like it,” he said. “It’s kind of the way I train personally – or the way our team trains.”

With track conditions eternally fast and firm, it is no wonder Cox will feel at home with his top horses, most of whom display early speed. That is especially true with Knicks Go, whose past performances show the number “1” as much as fans of the Georgia Bulldogs.

“I like that way of running, that way of being forwardly placed,” Cox said in an interview last week at Churchill Downs for the Vegas Stats & Information Network’s racing podcast. “Hopefully, the horses have something to finish up with.”

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Knicks Go has had just that. Since his owners, Korea Racing Authority, moved him from trainer Ben Colebrook to Cox’s barn in the winter of 2020, the now 5-year-old Paynter horse has made seven starts going two turns. Never in that time has he lost at any track or trailed at any call. As a 5-2 morning-line favorite, he and jockey Joel Rosario will try to do that again Saturday in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“I train to be close and be up on the pace,” Cox said. “I try not to have horses that come from way out of it or mid-pack if they have the speed. I want to utilize it, so that’s kind of what we do.”

Going for his fifth career Grade 1 victory, Knicks Go is not merely the big man on campus wherever he goes. He is a microcosm of the Cox philosophy. Just look at the six horses from that barn who will be in the Breeders’ Cup:

Essential Quality (3-1), the second morning-line choice in the Classic, does not need the lead. But in four of his five wins this year, he either has been no farther back than second during the race or within 2 1/2 lengths at any given call.

Shedaresthedevil (4-1), a co-second choice behind Letruska (8-5) in Saturday’s $2 million Distaff, led from gate to wire in two of her three wins in 2021. In the other, she was never more than two lengths from the front on her way to winning the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1) in August at Del Mar.

Juju’s Map (5-2), a joint second choice to Echo Zulu (4-5) for the Juvenile Fillies, never trailed in her maiden-breaking victory Sept. 3 at Ellis Park and was always at least second on her way to winning the Alcibiades (G1) last month at Keeneland.

Turnerloose (12-1), a Nyquist 2-year-old who is a long shot in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, was either on the lead or within a half-length of it in all three of her races, winning twice before drifting out in the stretch to lose by a neck last month at Keeneland in the Jessamine (G2).

Bubble Rock (8-1), a More Than Ready foal who also is entered in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, is the lone exception to the rule for Cox’s string at Del Mar this week. She has been a mid-pack runner en route to her 2-for-3 record, which included a victory last month in the Matron (G3) at Belmont Park.

“No, obviously not all horses fit that (forward) style,” Cox said. “We have some horses that don’t run that way.”

There are always exceptions, even among the West Coast horses themselves. Zenyatta became the biggest of Thoroughbred stars by being a sensational closer on California racetracks, especially Santa Anita. Otherwise, the reputation is embodied in frontrunners, the likes of whom led Cox to the winner’s circle twice in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup.

“We had some success out there,” Cox said. “British Idiom and Covfefe are two examples. And obviously Shedaresthedevil (in the Hirsch).”

Knicks Go will try to sustain his speed longer than he has been asked to do in his previous races. He is trying to become the first horse since Zenyatta and the fourth ever to make his 1 1/4-mile debut a winning one in the Classic.

“His gallop-out in his races have been pretty impressive,” Cox said. “He certainly can handle a mile-and-an-eighth awful well. I can’t see a reason why he would not get a mile-and-a-quarter. He’s by Paynter. Paynter is by Awesome Again, who won the (1998) Classic going a mile-and-a-quarter and who’s obviously the sire of (2004 Classic winner) Ghostzapper. To look at his pedigree and think that he couldn’t get a mile-and-a-quarter, I don’t know why people wouldn’t think he would.”

Where some horses could take that California speed and overdo it by setting too torrid a pace, Cox said Knicks Go has an engine that is made for racing long and fast.

“He’s a free-running horse, so he’s pretty dangerous,” Cox said. “If he gets the lead and clears off, he could be very, very tough to catch. It’s going to be up to the other camps and other trainers and their horses and jocks if they want to run with him. We’ll see how it goes.”

Essential Quality is not likely to interfere with his stablemate’s move to the front of the nine-horse field. The Belmont Stakes and Travers (G1) winner starts from post 4, one stall to the left of Knicks Go, in his quest to become the 14th 3-year-old to win in 38 runnings of the Classic. He comes off a 10-week break since his last race, a narrow victory in the Travers.

“I feel like he’s run enough,” Cox said. “We’ve got a fit horse. He’s developed physically since the Travers. He has just expanded. He looks the part, and he’s training the part. I can tell that he has definitely gotten sharper and more aggressive in his training just since the cool weather took over the last two or three weeks.”

Most of the field coming into Saturday’s $2 million Distaff might appear to be a step beneath division leader Letruska (8-5). Shedaresthedevil, though, beat Letruska on March 13 in the Azeri (G2) going two turns at Oaklawn. Letruska avenged the defeat with her one-turn victory over third-place Shedaresthedevil in the Ogden Phipps (G1) on the Belmont Stakes undercard.

“We did defeat Letruska around two turns, and we’re running around two turns,” Cox said. “I know that we can beat her. We’ve just got to have some racing luck and a good setup. I mean, it’s been done.”

Like last year, when Cox had a proven two-turn horse with Essential Quality in the Juvenile, Juju’s Map (5-2) represents him with the same experience going into the Juvenile Fillies. The favorite Echo Zulu (4-5) has never raced into a second turn.

“She was able to win at a mile at Ellis Park, which is kind of like a turn-and-a-half,” Cox said of Juju’s Map, a filly by Liam’s Map. “She was able to relay that back into the Alcibiades, and that was our whole goal. She handled the two turns, and she was close to a hot pace, which I think is important. I think there’ll be a hot pace in the Breeders’ Cup. She should be forwardly placed and able to relax going up the backside and have her best run late.”

Although Cox was still doing his homework last week on the European rivals whom Turnerloose and Bubble Rock will face in the Juvenile Fillies Turf, he was certainly up to speed on his two horses.

“I think Turnerloose is a filly who will benefit from going from a mile-and-a-sixteenth backing up to a mile,” Cox said. “She probably likes real firm turf. She should get that in California as opposed to what she ran on at Keeneland. If she gets a good trip, a little bit more of a favorable trip, and if she relaxes and is still forwardly placed, she’ll be a factor.

“It’s kind of the same thing with Bubble Rock. She’s a little bit of the unknown, having had three starts around one turn. Irad (Ortiz Jr.) originally told me when he rode her the first time, ‘You need to stretch her out,’ and he made that comment again. Hopefully, she’s a little better stretching out. That’s what we’re hoping for, anyhow.”

One thing that California speed will not do for Cox is give him more wins than the four he took from the 2020 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland. Barring dead heats, four are the most he can get this time. Unlike previous trips to the championships, Cox is not the hunter but, instead, the hunted. Mention that to him, and he breaks into a big smile before that familiar phrase is completely spoken.

“It’s a good spot to be in, you know?” he said. “You have to be a realistic person. You have to place your horses in the proper spots, and it has a lot to do with success in this game. We’re in a good position. We’ve got some very good horses for great clients and good help, and we’re looking forward to the Breeders’ Cup.”