Delayed 2021 Debut Minor Concern for Cox, Monomoy Girl

Postponements can certainly be aggravating, but as far as Monomoy Girl is concerned, trainer Brad Cox sees a silver lining—perhaps even a golden one—in having to wait for the mare's 6-year-old debut.

Monomoy Girl's highly anticipated 2021 campaign was supposed to start Feb. 15 in the $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) for older fillies and mares at Oaklawn Park, but brutal winter weather in Arkansas forced a couple of cancellations and pushed the 1 1/16-mile Bayakoa back to Feb. 28 at the Hot Springs track.

Yet for the two-time Eclipse Award winner and reigning champion of the older female dirt division, the delay was just a minor inconvenience. Cox still has seven weeks to prepare the daughter of Tapizar  for her main target, the April 17 $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at Oaklawn.

Beyond that, in deflating news for her five rivals in Sunday's race, since Monomoy Girl has been stabled at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots and was not impacted by the poor training conditions at Oaklawn, the extra 13 days has given Cox more time to sharpen the $4.4 million earner for her first start for a new ownership group.

"I don't believe the delays have affected her at all," Cox said. "It's probably given me more time to get her sharper. She's doing really well."

Monomoy Girl was last seen at the races Nov. 7, winning the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) for a second time for her original connections of Cox and owners Michael Dubb, Sol Kumin's Monomoy Stables, The Elkstone Group, and Bethlehem Stables. The very next day, she was sold for $9.5 million to Spendthrift Farm from the ELiTE consignment at The November Sale, Fasig-Tipton's premier breeding stock sale in Kentucky, tying for second all-time among racing and broodmare prospects sold at public auction in North America. 

With just 15 races during her career—and 13 wins—Spendthrift then elected to keep her in training for another year with Cox.

"It's like the icing on the cake," Cox said about racing her for an additional year. "She's somewhat lightly raced for a 6-year-old mare and has accomplished so much. It's great for the horse racing game to hopefully be able to enjoy her for the whole year."

Since the sale, Spendthrift has leased the majority of her racing rights to My Racehorse Stable and Kumin's Madaket Stables for the 2021 campaign, giving her a new trio of ownership groups.

Monomoy Girl has been training sharply lately, with six five-furlong works at Fair Grounds since Jan. 17, and Cox has not seen any sign of the mare slowing down since she turned 6 at the start of the year.

"She's showing that she's enjoying this as much as she ever has," Cox said about her training. "I hope we can get off to a good start and keep it going throughout the year."

The daughter of the Henny Hughes mare Drumette bred by FPF and Highfield Ranch will break from post 6 under regular rider Florent Geroux while facing five rivals Sunday in a race that will feature the unique occurrence of a two-time Distaff winner competing in a stakes named after a two-time Distaff winner. 

Winchell Thoroughbreds, Thomas Reiman, William Dickson, and Deborah Easter's Finite looms as the main threat. A multiple grade 2 winner for trainer Steve Asmussen, the 4-year-old Munnings  filly has not raced since closing out 2020 with a fourth-place finish Dec. 26 in the seven-furlong La Brea Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park. 

"She didn't run her race," Asmussen said about the La Brea.

A winner of six of 12 starts with three seconds, she won the Chilukki Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs in her start before the La Brea.

Asmussen will also send out Farfellow Farms' Another Broad, a Maryland-bred Include  mare who is coming off a third in the Allaire DuPont Stakes (G3) at Laurel Park.

The field also includes LBD Stable and David Ingordo's multiple graded stakes-placed Our Super Freak and Brereton Jones' Istan Council, who were second and third, respectively, in the Jan. 23 Pippin Stakes at Oaklawn. 

Additional reporting by Byron King.

Entries: Bayakoa S. (G3)

Oaklawn Park, Sunday, February 28, 2021, Race 9

• Grade III
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $250,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 5:11 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	Chance to Shine (KY)	Ken S. Tohill	115	Chris A. Hartman	-
2	Another Broad (MD)	Joel Rosario	115	Steven M. Asmussen	-
3	Finite (KY)	Ricardo Santana, Jr.	119	Steven M. Asmussen	-
4	Istan Council (KY)	Joseph Talamo	115	J. Larry Jones	-
5	Our Super Freak (KY)	David Cohen	115	Cherie DeVaux	-
6	Monomoy Girl (KY)	Florent Geroux	119	Brad H. Cox	-