New Year, Different Kentucky Derby Experience for Cox

A new year has generated a completely different Triple Crown experience for trainer Brad Cox.

On March 15 of last year, the two-time Eclipse Award winner did not have a horse with a single point on the Kentucky Derby (G1) leaderboard. 

As it turned out, a spate of success in the final round of preps gave Cox a trio of starters in the first leg of the Triple Crown: Tawny Port  (seventh),  Zozos  (10th), and Cyberknife   (18th).

Now, with the 100-point preps kicking off March 25, Cox has an abundance of Triple Crown candidates. Nine of his 3-year-olds have at least 10 points and are among the top 36 on the leaderboard, including the trio of Instant Coffee  (32 points, ninth on the leaderboard), Jace's Road  (15, 23rd), and Tapit's Conquest  (10, 34th) who are expected to run March 25 in the $1 million Louisiana Derby (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

"This is exciting for me and a complete reversal from last year," said Cox, who has so far won six of the 27 Kentucky Derby preps. "It is what we try to do. We want to put ourselves into this position around this time of year. We have a great team, great owners, and great horses. The bottom line is that we have a very talented group of horses, which also includes some very good horses who just broke their maiden and can be players in the 3-year-old division later in the year."

While getting all nine 3-year-olds into the 20-horse Run for the Roses on the first Saturday in May would be an unrealistic hope, after starting two 3-year-olds in the 2021 Kentucky Derby and three last year Cox wants to have as many starters in the May 6 1 1/4-mile American classic as he can.

"We are just trying to get the most out of each of them," said Cox, who is credited with a victory in the 2021 Kentucky Derby with Mandaloun   after Medina Spirit  was disqualified from first following a failed drug test. "There are a lot of moving pieces at the moment and some of our horses are developing and hopefully we can prepare them and they show up in their final preps. I don't know how many get to the Derby, but I know this: I want to run as many as I possibly can. I want to win the Kentucky Derby by crossing the wire first. It's a big goal for us."

Gold Square's Instant Coffee heads Cox's trio in the Louisiana Derby, a 1 3/16-mile test that offers 100-40-30-20-10 points to the top five finishers. The son of Bolt d'Oro   is the most accomplished—and arguably the best—of Cox's band of Triple Crown hopefuls with three wins in four starts, including two graded stakes wins. He has been working toward the Fair Grounds prep since winning the Jan. 21 Lecomte Stakes (G3) at Fair Grounds.

West Point Thoroughbreds and Albaugh Family Stables' Jace's Road (Quality Road  )  enters the Louisiana Derby hoping to bounce back from a fifth on a sloppy track in the Southwest Stakes (G3) while Robert LaPenta, e Five Racing Thoroughbreds, and Madaket Stables' Tapit's Conquest (Tapit  ) was fourth in the Risen Star Stakes (G2).

Following the Louisiana Derby, Cox figures to be busy in Triple Crown preps the next two weekends.

He has Risen Star winner Angel of Empire  (54, fourth) on track for the April 1 Arkansas Derby (G1), Withers Stakes (G3) winner Hit Show  (20, 15th) for the Arkansas Derby or the April 8 Wood Memorial (G2), Gotham Stakes (G3) runner-up Slip Mahoney  (20, 17th) for the Wood, and Champagne Stakes (G1) runner-up Verifying  (14, 26th) for the April 8 Blue Grass Stakes (G1).

Cox said Smarty Jones Stakes winner Victory Formation  (10, 28th) lost some training days due to a stall injury. He mentioned the Arkansas Derby, Blue Grass or even the April 15 Lexington Stakes (G3) as a possibility for the son of Tapwrit  .

Eyeing Clover  (10, 32nd), who was fourth in the Gotham, is likely bound for the April 1 Hot Spring Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

Aside from several promising runners awaiting their stakes debut, Cox said a summer campaign is likely for Loggins , who has not raced since finishing second by a neck to 2-year-old champion Forte  in the Breeders' Futurity (G1) last fall.

"He's galloping at WinStar and looks really good," Cox said about the son of Ghostzapper  . "He'll probably come back to us at the end of March, so we're excited about getting him back. We'll see him (run) in the summer."