Cox, BSW/Crow 2-Year-Olds Producing Optimism

The natural tendency in the fall is to focus on the 2-year-olds who have strutted their stuff in two-turn grade 1 tests such as the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance and American Pharoah Stakes.

Yet at this stage of the season a year ago, none of the three 2022 Triple Crown winners had run in a stakes race. One of them had yet to make his debut.

With that in mind, it's understandable why there's so much optimism to found among the legion of connections possessing promising yet inexperienced juveniles.

Included in that vast array of hopefuls is the large, diverse group of owners who comprise the partnership which teamed with trainer Brad Cox and bloodstock agents Brad Weisbord and Liz Crow from BSW/Crow to buy 23 yearling colts in 2021 and a 2-year-old earlier this year and have at least two talented runners who just might be factors on the Triple Crown trail in the coming year.

"It takes a while to get something like this going," Cox said. "We haven't had a lot of runners, but the ones that have run are making good debuts."

Some of the 10 ownership entities who funded the $8 million venture have enjoyed only limited experience in the high-risk, high-reward world of the Triple Crown chase and top-level 3-year-old racing, and they have already received a sample of the excitement that could be awaiting the group in 2023 through the initial performances of Giant Mischief  and Loggins .

Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Juvenile victor Forte  may be a sure thing to be voted the 2-year-old champion and is currently a favorite for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). Yet at this time of year, much like logs on a fireplace, hundreds of Triple Crown dreams are raging, especially among the Cox/BSW/Crow group.

"It's a bunch of Brad Cox clients that were looking for some Triple Crown action," Weisbord said about a group with Spendthrift Farm, Steve Landers Racing, and Martin S. Schwartz having the largest shares. "Most of the guys had not been on the Triple Crown trail before so there's definitely some Kentucky Derby dreaming involved."

Giant Mischief, a son of Into Mischief   bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings (which retained an ownership share), made his debut Sept. 22 with a winning effort at Horseshoe Indianapolis, then was a standout on no less of a stage than Future Stars Friday at the Breeders' Cup. Running in an allowance race on the Nov. 4 card at Keeneland, Giant Mischief was entered in a $160,000 allowance optional claiming race for 2-year-olds at seven furlongs and posted an impressive three-quarters of a length win over Arabian Lion , the highly regarded 3-5 favorite from trainer Bob Baffert's barn. After that, it was a Flightline  -like 17 1/2 lengths back to Old Alliance  in third.

"He's given us a lot of reasons to be excited," Cox said about a colt listed 25-1 in the upcoming pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby future wager. " It was supposed to be a loaded allowance. I expected him to run well but I never imaged 17 lengths on the third horse."

As visually impressive as the victory may have been, it was also dazzling in terms of speed figures. According to figures released by Thoro-Graph, the race was the fastest of the weekend at Keeneland by a juvenile. On a scale in which lower numbers are better, Arabian Lion, who had a wider trip, received a 3/4 while Giant Mischief earned a 2. Forte, for his victory in the longer 1 1/16-mile Juvenile, wound up with a 2 1/2.

Now the question becomes how will he handle two turns? All looks good on the sire side, with Into Mischief. Yet he's also the first foal from the grade 2-winning sprinter Vertical Oak, a daughter of Giant Oak, who was a multiple grade 1 winner around two turns.

Cox plans to test those waters in Giant Mischief's next start which is likely to be either the Dec. 17 Springboard Mile Stakes at Remington Park or the Jan. 1 Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park, both of which are two-turn mile tests offering 10-4-3-2-1 Kentucky Derby points.

"We're hopeful he can stretch out," Cox said. "The Springboard Mile and the Smarty Jones are both two-turn miles so it gives us the best opportunity to see if he can handle two turns. I believe he can, based on his two starts because he's not speed crazy and does not have to have the lead."

Cox said Giant Mischief has the good looks of a top son of Into Mischief, which helps to fuel the excitement around him.

"He's a typical Into Mischief. When you have had some Into Mischiefs, you know what they look like and he is a very typical Into Mischief," Cox said about the $475,000 purchase from the Summerfield consignment at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. "He's a very tough horse that does what we ask of him. He's very honest. No quirks in his training. He's a compact horse who looks fast. Based on his pedigree there could be some questions about how far he'll go, but I'm optimistic the stallion will carry him. He looked like he had plenty left on the gallop out."

Even Baffert, who could have some future stars of his own in Arabian Lion and Arabian Knight , the eye-catching Nov. 5 maiden winner at Keeneland, liked what he saw in Giant Mischief before and after the allowance race.

"Brad's horse looked real good in the paddock," the Hall of Famer said. "I could see he was the one we had to beat."

Loggins (40-1 in pool 2) may not be unbeaten after his two career starts, but his lone loss was no disgrace. Of the three straight grade 1 wins by Forte in the Hopeful Stakes, Claiborne Breeders' Futurity, and Juvenile, his toughest battle came in the Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, when he engaged in a tight stretch duel with Loggins, which included some brushing, before prevailing by a neck.

Though Forte went on to win the Juvenile, Cox elected to give Loggins a break after running the Ghostzapper   2-year-old three weeks after an 8 1/2-length debut win at Churchill Downs.

"I wasn't excited about running three times in seven weeks and he came back tired after the Breeders' Futurity," Cox said about a colt bred by Popatop out of the Blame   mare Beyond Blame (a grade 3 winner  for Cox) and bought for $460,000 from the Denali Stud consignment at The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's New York Sale of Select Yearlings. "I felt we would have been doing a lot with this horse to run in the Breeders' Cup. If we wanted to have a good 3-year-old we needed to give him time. So I felt it was the right thing to skip the Breeders' Cup without a doubt and hopefully we'll be rewarded next year. We'll give him a solid 45-60 days off and crank him up at the Fair Grounds."

Rewards when the colts turn 3 was the idea swirling in Cox's mind when the Eclipse Award winner the last two years approached Weisbord about putting the group together.

Cox was quite aware of the success Baffert enjoyed with his "Avengers" group headed by Tom Ryan of SF Racing, Sol Kumin of Madaket Stables, and Jack Wolf of Starlight Racing. They bought their first set of about two dozen colts in 2018 and were rewarded with 2020 Kentucky Derby and Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner and Horse of the Year Authentic   plus three stallion deals worth more than a combined $50 million.

"Our group is not any different than other groups. There's a lot of smart people in the business and sometimes you have to watch or mimic what they are doing and then try to do the best you can," Cox said. "We went to Keeneland and Saratoga looking for pedigrees that could become grade 1 winners and stallions. Mostly they were dirt pedigrees that can run from seven-eighths to a classic distance."

The recent spending spree of Repole and Vinnie Viola of St. Elias has also driven up prices at the top sales, making it wiser than ever for owners to team up rather than go it alone.

"The prices for colts that tick all the boxes by proven sires are now very competitive (at the sales)," Weisbord said. "They are at least $750,000 for one and especially this year that has made it harder to buy them."

Crow, best known for picking out the champions Monomoy Girl and British Idiom, headed the selection process with Cox and his team that has already produced a grade 1-placed runner.

"I have to give a tremendous amount of credit to Liz Crow. She selected these horses and made the official decisions on them," Weisbord said.

Meanwhile, Weisbord worked to assemble the ownership group for the funding. In the end, there were 10 main partners in the $8 million syndicate, which had a minimum buy-in of $500,000. Spendthrift came aboard as the major investor with a one-third share, while, in addition to Landers and Schwartz, the group also includes Michael Dubb and Mike Caruso, Ten Strike Racing, Jim Bakke, Titletown Racing, Kueber Racing, Big Easy Racing, and Winners Win.

Ned Toffey, general manager of Spendthrift, which stands Into Mischief, viewed the group as a way to access a variety of pedigrees.

"One of the goals for (Spendthrift owner) Eric Gustavson since he's taken over at Spendthrift is to have stallions at the end of the day. So we tried to spread out and partner on a lot of young colts," Toffey said after Giant Mischief's allowance win. "After all, this is a numbers game. You have to spread out. If you buy two or three, even if you think they are nice ones, you are probably going to end up disappointed. So, this gave us the opportunity to spread things around more and give us a few more bullets. This was a horse we liked and Brad and Liz liked."

For both Schwartz and Dubb, the group provided something new to them in a bunch of Triple Crown hopefuls.

Schwartz was a pioneer in buying European turf horses and bringing them to the United States to become grade 1 winners. He used that method to campaign the champion turf mares Stacelita (2011) and Zagora (2012), but found in recent years that increased competition for those proven runners had become too costly.

"The market (for European horses) has gone a little crazy. There's too much money around so I'm searching for a new metric and it's not easy. I was ahead of the game and had money when others didn't when the stock market wasn't quite as good," Schwartz said. "I can't pay prices that do not make sense to me. So, I pulled back from that model. It's difficult to find made horses these days and I just don't like making bad economic decisions."

Though Schwartz's horses have combined for 18 grade/group 1 wins since 2000, none have come on a dirt racetrack or in a Kentucky Derby prep.

"I'm experimenting," said Schwartz, who has known Weisbord since he attended camp with Schwartz's son as a youth. "I figure I'll  get some action the next few years, have some fun, and meet some new people. I knew I had to rebuild my stock and I don't care what surface they run on as long as they are healthy and good."

Dubb has won six  Breeders' Cup races and the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1 with a list of stars topped by two-time champion Monomoy Girl, and has been the leading owner on the New York Racing Association circuit seven times. Yet his lone taste of success on the Triple Crown trail with a 3-year-old came when Mr. Monomoy  won the 2020 Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2) for Cox.

Unfortunately, that proved to be the son of Palace Malice  's final start.

"Mike was super happy after the Risen Star," Cox said. "He came to the Fair Grounds and said he was never in that position with a Triple Crown horse and he's been an owner who has been so successful. It was really cool."

Dubb, whose children have been friends with Weisbord for decades, felt joining the group was the best way to rejoin the Triple Crown fray.

"The way people are buying Triple Crown-type horses makes it too expensive to do it on your own, so I was intrigued by this group," Dubb said. "Having a taste of major races, the ultimate prize is still the Triple Crown races and I think it's still everyone's goal in the game."

A major factor in Dubb's decision was the respect he has for Weisbord and Crow.

"I was one of Brad's earliest and biggest supporters. He's a very bright young man and he looks at the business from an analytic point of view in his handling of this partnership and horses in general. I really can't say enough nice things about Brad and I'm close enough to feel some pride over his success," said Dubb, whose 10% share of the partnership includes a small piece owned by his good friend Caruso. "We've all been successful in our own purchases and endeavors but we have enough respect for Brad and Liz that when they talk, we listen. Liz is very gifted at finding good horses."

There was a second group of purchases this year, with most of the same owners, though Weisbord said only 16 colts were bought, leaving a few million in capital for upcoming 2-year-old sales.

In the meantime, while the focus will be on Giant Mischief and Loggins, there are others who in time might join them in conversations about major 3-year-old races in 2023.

Of course, there will be some swings and misses in the group. Housed , a $75,000 buy, was already claimed away for just $20,000. Yet there is a deep hope that a few of the others have black type in their future.

One is Rule Breaker , who will be joining Cox's barn soon after some setbacks. He's a son of Into Mischief bred in New York by Chester and Mary Broman and bought for the group's top ticket price of $1,000,000 from the Sequel Bloodstock consignment at the OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. He's a son of the successful Roman Ruler  mare Artemis Agrotera. 

Another is the unraced Sensical, who was also bought for $1 million. Bred by Farfellow Farms, the son of Street Sense   out of the Aptitude  mare Critikal Reason was bought at Keeneland September and also represents the rampant optimism among a small army 2-year-old owners across the country as winter approaches.

"Overall it's a good group of horses," Cox said, "and we still have a lot to unveil from a pretty deep bench."