Speedy Break Even punches ticket back to stakes company

Next weekend’s Carousel Stakes at Oaklawn Park was an option for Break Even, trainer Brad Cox said, until an allowance race for older female sprinters appeared earlier in the Oaklawn Park condition book.

The 4-year-old daughter of Country Day then validated the decision to drop in class when dashing to a three-length victory Saturday at Oaklawn Park.

Reflecting on the win Sunday morning, Cox said, “I just thought it would make more sense given her last race to see if she was going to round back into form and run the way we knew she was capable of.”

Klein Racing’s homebred had started her career 6-for-6, winning stakes on turf and dirt last season before a second in Saratoga’s Prioress (G2) ended the streak. From there, connections shut down Break Even to prepare for 2020.

“She had no surgeries or anything,” Cox said. “We just felt like it was time to kick her out and give her the rest of the year. With the way the stakes schedule looked for 3-year-old fillies and what she accomplished, she deserved a break.

“We had taken a little tread off the tire. It was time to let her regroup and rebound.”

Connections selected Oaklawn’s Feb. 29 Spring Fever Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong sprint, as the comeback spot. Break Even faded to be last of six in a race where other speed types, Mt. Brave and Artistic Diva, also missed the board.

“I think it was just the way the race unfolded, and she definitely needed the race,” Cox said.

Back in Saturday under jockey Joel Rosario, Break Even got away fastest in a field of 10 and never looked back, sprinting to six furlongs in 1:09.28 under no urging from her rider.

Cox said a return to stakes company is “definitely” next up. But given the unstable state of racing calendars across the county, “Your guess is as good as mine as to when and what that will be.”