The Road to the Kentucky Oaks (G1) continues Nov. 30 at Churchill Downs with the $400,000 Golden Rod Stakes (G2), and once again it runs through the barn of trainer Brad Cox.
With six Oaks preps in the book, Cox has won half of them thanks to Godolphin homebreds Immersive, the unopposed favorite for Eclipse Champion 2-Year-Old Filly, and Good Cheer, winner of the Oct. 27 Rags to Riches Stakes. The top five finishers Saturday will receive qualifying points on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale.
"I think it's a very good group," Cox said of his 2-year-old fillies. "I'm very excited about what we have now, but we have to manage them throughout the winter. If we could have multiple runners in the Kentucky Oaks, that would be the goal."
With the Oaks just over 150 days away, Cox will saddle Golden Rod runners Good Cheer and Eclatant to try and push his Oaks-prep win rate over 50%, a rate that could be lifted even higher as the undefeated and highly regarded Muhimma is targeting the Dec. 7 Demoiselle Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Good Cheer returns to the 1 1/16-mile Churchill Downs spotlight with a 3-for-3 record and $215,160 in the bank. The Medaglia d'Oro filly began her career with a one-mile victory at Horseshoe Indianapolis, a spot chosen to get her started around two turns, before an allowance win and the Rags to Riches triumph, both at 1 1/16 miles, at Churchill.
"We always felt like, with her pedigree and how she trained, that she'd be a two-turn filly," Cox said. "The biggest takeaway has been how dominant she's been."
That dominance has come in the form of a 30-length combined margin. The smallest of those victories came in the Rags to Riches, in which she overcame being roughed up at the start to surge by a well-regarded Claire's Charm, who misses this rematch with an illness, and win by 4 3/4 lengths.
Video: Rags to Riches S. (BT)
But Good Cheer is not the lone undefeated contender who will exit the Cox barn. Unlike her stablemate, Stonestreet Stables' homebred Eclatant has only started around one turn, winning her 5 1/2-furlong debut at Churchill Downs in June and a six-furlong allowance at Keeneland Oct. 4.
Expectations have always been high for the daughter of Into Mischief , being labeled as Cox's "Saratoga filly" before a minor setback made her miss the meet. Her 1 1/4-length win at Keeneland, while finishing 12 1/2 lengths clear of third, was a positive sign that she was back.
"The run last time was just to get a run under her," Cox said. "She chased a filly that got loose on the lead and she was still able to overcome it. The track was very fast and speed-favoring that particular day, so I thought she overcame a track bias to win."
Cox acknowledged it will be a tough challenge for Eclatant to stretch out for the first time in graded company and against a proven filly such as Good Cheer, but he is confident in her ability.
"We are asking a good bit from her, but I think she's this caliber," Cox said. "I think she's a graded-stakes filly around two turns."
The Challengers
Defeating Cox's duo will be a tough feat, but five challengers will line up to take their shot.
The most accomplished of that group is Shortleaf Stable's Quietside. Following a victory in her August debut at Saratoga Race Course, the daughter of Malibu Moon has earned two grade 1 placings behind presumptive champion Immersive. Second as the favorite in Saratoga's Spinaway Stakes (G1) and third in Keeneland's Alcibiades Stakes (G1) Oct. 4, she has shown plenty of ability and aims to get a breakthrough victory for trainer John Ortiz.
Sturgeon Moon showed an affinity for the 1 1/16-mile distance when she pulled off a 31-1 upset against allowance company in her first start around two turns at Keeneland Oct. 18. Racing in the colors of OXO Equine for trainer Paulo Lobo, she is 2-for-3 with earnings of $90,790.
The other three runners, Fixin to Bee, My Lil Punky, and Flash Wear, all exit their third career start in which they acquired maiden victories. Fixin to Bee, owned by Calumet Farm and trained by Rusty Arnold, makes her dirt debut.
Churchill Downs, Saturday, November 30, 2024, Race 9Entries: Golden Rod S. (G2)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Eclatant (KY) Florent Geroux 122 Brad H. Cox - 2 Fixin to Bee (KY) John R. Velazquez 122 George R. Arnold II - 3 Good Cheer (KY) Luis Saez 122 Brad H. Cox - 4 Quietside (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 122 John Alexander Ortiz - 5 Sturgeon Moon (KY) Evin A. Roman 122 Paulo H. Lobo - 6 My Lil Punky (KY) Edgar Morales 122 John Ennis - 7 Flash Wear (KY) Cristian A. Torres 122 Thomas D. Vance -
