Cox schedules Saratoga start for barn star Monomoy Girl

Leading 3-year-old filly Monomoy Girl is in good order following her two-length victory in Saturday's Grade 1, $700,000 Acorn, trainer Brad Cox said Sunday.

Saturday's win was the third straight Grade 1 for the chestnut Tapizar filly, also including a 5 ½-length romp in the Ashland on April 7 at Keeneland and a game half-length score in the Kentucky Oaks on May 4 at Churchill Downs. 

"She looked great this morning," said Cox. "We came out of the race extremely well. She looked great, happy, healthy."

Owned by Michael Dubb, Monomoy Stables, The Elkstone Group, and Bethlehem Stables, Monomoy Girl is undefeated in four starts in 2018 and is 7-for-8 in her career for earnings of nearly $1.5 million. Her only loss came with a close runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Golden Rod last fall.

In the Acorn, at a mile around one turn, Monomoy Girl settled in third through the early going and came running with a five-wide move for home under Florent Geroux, drawing clear as the 3-5 favorite.

"The way she's been training, we were expecting a big effort out of her yesterday and she gave it to us," said Cox. "They give you confidence watching them train, but you never really know what's going to happen when the gates come open. But, it set up extremely well for her and Florent did a great job putting her in a good position and she responded the way we thought she would. The filly that was second ran an incredible race as well."

Monomoy Girl left Belmont Park around 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning to return to her trainer's main base at Churchill, where Cox said she'll ready for a likely start in the Grade 1, $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 22 at Saratoga Race Course.

"That'll be our short-term goal," he said. "We'll see how it goes, but it's good timing between races and hopefully we'll have her ready and she'll reward us again."