Cox is busy Saturday with First Mission, Hit Show, Most Wanted

Louisville, Ky.

Brad Cox said his Breeders’ Cup roster is not set yet. That may sound like trainer speak, but he legitimately has a more pressing item at the top of his to-do list.

The two-time Eclipse Award winner was asked about First Mission’s chance to qualify for the Breeders’ Cup Classic by winning as the 8-5 morning-line favorite in Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Goodwood Stakes at Santa Anita.

Head to Head: Handicapping Grade 1 Goodwood.

“We’re trying to win a Grade 1 with him, and obviously that’s our focus, so we’ll see,” Cox said this week at his Churchill Downs barn. “We’ve always thought he was a Grade 1 talent. He’s come up short when given the opportunity at that Grade 1 level. Hopefully we can break through on Saturday.”

First Mission is at the top of Cox’s list of stakes starters Saturday. They include multimillionaire Hit Show, who defends his 2024 win in the Lukas Classic (G2), and Most Wanted, the program favorite in the Ack Ack (G3), both at Churchill.

Cox will be watching from afar as First Mission, Godolphin’s homebred 5-year-old entire by Street Sense, tries for that elusive Grade 1 victory. He has had four shots at it. Five, really. Lacking Kentucky Derby points in 2023, First Mission was aimed for the Preakness, but he never got to run that day. A cranky left-hind ankle forced Cox to scratch him 36 hours before post time.

Last year there were three Grade 1 misses. A wide draw preceded a ninth-place finish in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park. His early speed did not hold late when he came home fourth as the odds-on favorite in the Stephen Foster at Churchill. A muddy renewal of the Whitney last summer at Saratoga never suited First Mission, who wound up seventh.

This summer’s Stephen Foster on June 28 was loaded, and there was no shame in finishing third to Mindframe and Sierra Leone. But it still went into the past performances as another Grade 1 loss for First Mission, who otherwise is 10: 6-3-1 in lower-level races.

“My takeaway from him over the last year or so is I think he runs a little better when he has a target, maybe even when he’s tucked in and getting a pocket trip,” Cox said. “I’m not certain we’ll get that on Saturday at Santa Anita, but I’d really like to replicate his Oaklawn Handicap race there in April. I think if he could get that trip with a similar setup, he would be very tough.”

First Mission stalked the pace that day in April before jockey Flavien Prat found room between Skippylongstocking and Banishing to take the lead and run on to a two-length win. The Stephen Foster defeat followed two months later. Most recently First Mission carried 1-5 expectations from the betting public only to lose a stretch duel to Surface to Air in the Aug. 16 running of the Philip H. Iselin (G3) at Monmouth Park.

Cox said no adjustment of equipment was necessary for First Mission.

“He wears blinkers, but no, we’re not making any equipment changes,” he said. “I think it’s just about the setup more so than the equipment.”

Breaking from post 4 in the field of seven in Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile race, that setup will be in the hands of a rider whose identity this week was uncertain. Florent Géroux, who rode six of First Mission’s last eight starts, is staying home at Churchill Downs this weekend. Paco López had been named to ride, but he was hit with a six-month suspension by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. Cox called on California-based Umberto Rispoli to replace López.

Géroux tries to ride 5-year-old Hit Show to back-to-back wins in the 1 1/8-mile Lukas Classic. Wathnan Racing’s son of Candy Ride earned most of his $8,559,858 by winning the Dubai World Cup (G1) in April. After coming home to a ho-hum, fifth-place result in the Stephen Foster, he bounced back to win by a head Aug. 3 in the West Virginia Governor’s Stakes at Mountaineer.

“It’s been about as good a year as you can have with a racehorse with the World Cup,” Cox said. “He came back. He was doing great. A Grade 1 (Stephen Foster) off the layoff from Dubai was a big ask. He ran well. He didn’t get a great setup. There wasn’t a lot of speed in the Stephen Foster, and it was a very good group of horses looking back.”

Even though Hit Show knows how to win the Lukas Classic, this renewal may be tougher with the likes of Kentucky Derby 2024 winner Mystik Dan and fellow millionaire Banishing carrying shorter odds in the program.

“Look, he won this race last year,” Cox said. “I think we should have a good track, a fast track on Saturday. I think some things have to go his way. He does come from off the pace a little bit, but he’s trained really well. He’s been just super consistent since we’ve had him. He doesn’t seem to be slowing down after 20 starts. He’s just really doing well.”

Most Wanted, a 4-year-old Candy Ride colt bred and owned by Gary and Mary West, started his career with four straight wins last year. Then came seconds late in the 2024 Clark (G2) and then this year in the Challenger (G3) and Alysheba (G2). A confidence-building allowance win at Churchill followed in June before last month’s cutback to seven furlongs and a fifth-place result in the Forego (G1).

With Irad Ortiz Jr. riding the 6-5 morning-line favorite, Most Wanted returns to a mile, a distance at which he is 3-for-3. Like that allowance victory two starts back, it will be a one-turn test.

“I love the way he’s doing leading up to this,” Cox said. “His last run he didn’t perform quite as well as we hoped, but I think he’s set up for a really, really big effort. Breaking from the 1 hole, I’m not certain (Ortiz) will have to gun him out of there, but we’ll see. He’s a horse that can kind of sit wherever. And honest, he’s another one that’s got a really nice race record. Hopefully we can keep it going with him.”

The list of Cox’s candidates for the Breeders’ Cup in five weeks at Del Mar is long. It includes Fionn, who will go to the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) in two weeks at Keeneland before the Filly & Mare Turf may be considered. Patch Adams will train up to the championships, but the Sprint vs. Dirt Mile choice remains a dilemma for Cox.

One thing that is certain is the uncertainty of his Breeders’ Cup plans.

“A lot of that is going to come over the next couple weekends,” Cox said. “We’re going to find out who’s going to be able to get on the plane and go out there. It kind of feels like this every year. You really don’t know until you get that last run into them or really the last breeze. We normally try to go out on the last plane every year. You try to get those last works in them the weekend before, and if all goes well, you just kind of hold your breath and cross your fingers until that time comes.”