Cox Pins Kentucky Derby Hopes on Cyberknife, Zozos

A year ago at this time, trainer Brad Cox's days were filled mapping out plans for several of the top Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) candidates.

His stable included the eventual winners of two-thirds of the Triple Crown in Juddmonte's Mandaloun , who ultimately was declared the winner of the Kentucky Derby last month after the disqualification of Medina Spirit for failed post-race drug tests, and Godolphin's Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) victor, Essential Quality  . Caddo River , winner of the Smarty Jones Stakes and Arkansas Derby (G1) runner-up, was also in the mix for Cox.

Yet if anyone scans the current list of 56 horses on the Road to the Kentucky Derby Leaderboard, what they will not see is Cox's name.

For now.

While the two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer's 3-year-olds have yet to accumulate any qualifying points for the Run for the Roses that could change rather abruptly in the next two weeks when Cox sends out Zozos  in the March 26 Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) at Fair Grounds Racetrack & Slots and Cyberknife  in the April 2 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

"I tell my help all the time, we're not in the same position as last year, but if you give it another month, we might not be watching the Kentucky Derby from the office," Cox said.

Barry and Joni Butzow's homebred Zozos is undefeated in two starts and will make his stakes debut in the 1 3/16 Louisiana Derby after winning a 1 1/16-mile allowance optional claimer Feb. 11 by 10 1/4 lengths at Oaklawn Park and a Jan. 23 maiden race at Fair Grounds.

"Zozos needs to move forward in the Louisiana Derby and I think he can," Cox said about the Munnings   colt out of the Forestry mare Papa's Forest . "He's done things right. He's 2-for-2 and we'll see how it goes."

To have a realistic chance at earning a spot in the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field and giving Cox a chance at back-to-back wins in the opening leg of the Triple Crown, Zozos will likely need at least a second-place finish in the Louisiana Derby, which offers 100-40-20-10 points to the top four finishers. With some luck, he might also sneak in with 20 points.

Gold Square's Cyberknife is the more experienced of the duo with five career starts. After breaking his maiden in his third try, the son of Gun Runner   was sixth in the Lecomte Stakes (G3) after a wide trip and then won a Feb. 19 allowance optional claiming race at Fair Grounds by three lengths in a fast time for 1 1/16 miles.

In his career debut, Cyberknife was disqualified from first and placed second for bumping a rival in the stretch.

"There's no question about his talent, but he's a challenging horse mentally and he can be erratic in the lane," Cox said. "Yet he's a good colt. He got a big figure for his last race and I think he's going to improve every time you take him over there to run and he gets experience racing in the afternoons. He just has to step up to the plate and if he puts it all together he can be a solid horse. I think he's the better of my two right now."

Bred by Ken and Sarah Ramsey out of the Flower Alley mare Awesome Flower , Cyberknife was purchased for $400,000 by Joe Hardoon, agent, from the Ramsey Farm consignment at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase.

He faces the same situation as Zozos in terms of qualifying points with the Arkansas Derby also worth 170 points.

Cox also reported that Shedaresthedevil  came out of her third-place finish in the March 12 Azeri Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn fine and will be pointed to either the April 23 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at Oaklawn or the May 6 La Troienne Stakes Presented by Twinspires.com (G1) at Churchill Downs, a stakes she captured in 2021.

Running for the first time since she was sixth in the Nov. 6 Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), Shedaresthedevil set the pace in the Azeri and the 2020 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner wound up third behind champion sprinter Ce Ce  and Houston Ladies Classic Stakes (G3) winner Pauline's Pearl .

"She came back really, really good from a physical standpoint. I was happy about that and I'm hopeful she will move forward off it," Cox said about his trainee, a $2.3 million-earning 5-year-old daughter of Daredevil   currently owned by Flurry Racing Stables, Qatar Racing Limited, and Whisper Hill Farm. "You're disappointed she didn't win but she was passed (in the stretch) and she came back. It was a big effort against a champion in Ce Ce and another very good filly (Pauline's Pearl). Both of those fillies had runs on us this year so we're hoping we can get her back to the winner's circle."

Cox also said he's hopeful that Mandaloun will finally leave Saudi Arabia this week and return home to the United States.

"He's doing fine, but unfortunately he's still in Saudi Arabia," Cox said. "Hopefully he will be able to leave later this week and after he's quarantined we can get him ready for a spring campaign. He's only raced twice this year, so he has the whole year in front of him. We're excited about getting him back here, getting him over the travel, and mapping out a campaign for him."

The homebred son of Into Mischief   was a disappointing ninth in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) after starting his 4-year-old season with a sharp win over Midnight Bourbon in the Louisiana Stakes (G3) at Fair Grounds.

"I think he was a little too close to a hot pace and that track is a little more tiring and deeper than the tracks we're used to here," Cox said about the Saudi Cup. "It wasn't his day."