Champagne Runner-Up Verifying in Oaklawn Allowance

The most lucrative race Jan. 14 at Oaklawn Park is the $150,000 Fifth Season Stakes for older horses at a mile, though perhaps the most intriguing is the fourth, a $104,000 entry-level allowance for 3-year-olds at the same distance that has lured a field of eight, including 6-5 program favorite and grade 1-placed Verifying .

From the first crop of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify  , Verifying makes his 2023 debut for two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox and a high-profile ownership group that includes Jonathan Poulin, Westerberg, Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith, and Michael Tabor. Verifying, purchased for $775,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from the Hunter Valley Farm consignment, is a half brother to champion and multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Midnight Bisou .

Verifying is among maybe a dozen Kentucky Derby prospects for Cox and already has four qualifying points after finishing second in the Champagne Stakes (G1) Oct. 1 at Aqueduct Racetrack during the Belmont At The Big A meeting. He exits a troubled sixth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at 1 1/16 miles Nov. 4 at Keeneland. In addition to Verifying, Cox is also scheduled to start Gary and Mary West's lightly raced Judo  in Saturday's fourth race (1:57 p.m. CT post time). Both horses have been training this winter at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

"I've been pointing for allowance races with both horses," Cox said. "Verifying after the Breeders' Cup, I just backed off of him a little bit and got him back up and going. He's doing great. Judo, I just kind of struggled with getting a race to go for him and this is where we found ourselves. Hopefully, they both take that next step to give us the confidence to try stakes in the near future."

Verifying made three starts last year, winning his career debut sprinting Aug. 27 at Saratoga Race Course. After stretching out to finish second in the Champagne, Verifying was "bumped and bothered at the start" of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, according to footnotes from the official Equibase chart, and beaten 12 lengths by Forte , the presumptive champion 2-year-old male of 2022.

"He won on debut at Saratoga impressively," Cox said. "I thought he ran really well in the Champagne to give us enough confidence out of the Champagne, training at Churchill, to try the Breeders' Cup. He didn't run a bad race, just probably wasn't quite up to par at that time. I'm hoping that now since he got a little time, we backed off him, he's back training, steady work pattern leading into this, and hopeful he takes that step forward from 2 to 3."

Verifying is scheduled to break from post 5 under Martin Garcia. Judo is scheduled to break from post 7 under Joe Talamo.

The latter, a homebred son of Street Sense  , won first out at Ellis Park in August before a runner-up finish in an allowance optional claimer at Churchill Downs during its September meet.