Cox tickets Taraz for Kentucky Oaks trail start at Oaklawn Park
Long ago, trainer Brad Cox was told that, “‘People want to see you do it with the fillies first, and then they’ll send you the colts.’”
In an interview this week with Gene McLean, who runs the Louisville Thoroughbred Society’s Pressbox website, Cox added, “I’ll take both.”
As the trainer seeks his first Kentucky Derby starter, he’s once again lining up an impressive array of fillies, including a likely 2-year-old champion in British Idiom, who’s working toward the Feb. 15 Rachel Alexandra (G2) at Fair Grounds. Before that, he’ll send stakes-placed Portrait in next Saturday's Silverbulletday, also in New Orleans.
Cox newly revealed plans as well for Taraz, a Juddmonte Farms homebred who ran off to win the Dec. 21 Letellier Memorial Stakes by 11 1/4 lengths. Next up is Oaklawn Park’s Feb. 1 Martha Washington, a 1-mile points prep for the Kentucky Oaks.
“She’s been out twice and been impressive twice,” Cox told McLean. “We’re going to ask her to do a little more next time.”
A daughter of Into Mischief, Taraz debuted a winner on Nov. 14 at Churchill Downs, winning by 7 1/2 lengths before setting all the fractions in the Letellier Memorial. She finished up six furlongs that day over a sloppy, sealed track in 1:10.83.
“We think she’s got a tremendous upside, and hopefully there are Grade 1s in the future for her,” Cox said. “We think the world of her.”
The Martha Washington, an early Oaks prep, will pay out points to its Top 4 finishers on a 10-4-2-1 scale. Presumably, other Oaklawn preps such as the March 7 Honeybee (G3) and April 10 Fantasy (G3) could be on her schedule.
Cox has said British Idiom, the 3-for-3 winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, is likely to follow his 2018 Oaks winner Monomoy Girl’s path to Churchill Downs. That would mean a try at Keeneland’s Ashland (G1) after the Rachel Alexandra.
If successful in the Silverbulletday, Portrait may become a candidate for the March 21 Fair Grounds Oaks (G2), another successful prep on the way to the first Friday in May.
Cox also shared that he now trains Shedaresthedevil, who Flurry Racing Stables purchased for $280,000 in November at Keeneland. Previously based in California with Simon Callaghan, the Daredevil filly is a multiple stakes-placed maiden winner expected to appear at the upcoming Oaklawn meet.
Meanwhile, in racing's glamour division the Louisville, Ky., native Cox's 3-year-old colts of interest include Answer In, who was narrowly defeated in last month's Remington Springboard Mile. Cox told McLean to look for him next in Oaklawn Park's Southwest Stakes (G3).