Brad Cox equates being a thoroughbred trainer to being an NFL coach in of enjoying a victory.
“It’s fun to win a game or a race,” Cox said last week during a teleconference. “But I don’t have a lot of time to sit around and think about what we have accomplished. … You are always trying to move forward and prepare these horses. It’s always game day for the most part.
“There is so much to do. You can enjoy a victory for about 15 minutes. Then you start putting a game plan together moving ahead.”
However, should either of Cox’s two entries in Saturday’s premier $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic win, the 41-year-old trainer might spend a bit more than 15 minutes celebrating.
In the 5-year-old Knicks Go and the 3-year-old Essential Quality, Cox could have the two favorites in the 1¼-mile finale to the second Breeders’ Cup run at Del Mar.
Knicks Go and Essential Quality last year represented half of the record-tying four Breeders’ Cup winners Cox saddled at Keeneland. Knicks Go won the Dirt Mile (after finishing second in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile). Essential Quality won the Juvenile to earn the Eclipse Award as the sport’s top 2-year-old male.
Now they’ll meet in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
“It’s been a great year for both horses,” said Cox, who won his first Eclipse Award last year as the nation’s top trainer.
But this year has been even better for Cox, who, with Knicks Go (5-2 morning-line) and Essential Quality (3-1) leading the way, has saddled 226 winners — including 30 graded stakes wins — with earnings of almost $25 million.
Cox was almost born to be a trainer. He was raised two blocks away from Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. He made his first visit to the track before he started school, started studying the Daily Racing Form at 12 and became a hot walker a year later.
After five years as an assistant trainer, Cox opened his own stable at the age of 24. He now has 1,700 wins at a 27 percent success rate. Now retired Monomoy Girl gave Cox two of his seven Breeders’ Cup wins in the 2018 and 2020 Distaff.
Now he has perhaps the two horses to beat in the Breeders’ Cup Classic field that includes Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit (trained by Bob Baffert) and Hot Rod Charlie (trained by Doug O’Neill).
“I’d have to say right now they are pretty much on par,” Cox said of Knicks Go and Essential Quality. “Both are doing really well. If either wins the Classic, they should be Horse of the Year … I don’t know how they wouldn’t be, to be honest.”
But Knicks Go and Essential Quality have more differences than their ages.
Knicks Go is a speed horse and figures to be out front early, likely dueling Medina Spirit.
Essential Quality features a finishing kick.
“Hopefully, we can add to their résumés Saturday,” said Cox. “They’re not going to get in each other’s way.”
Cox has plotted a plan for both his horses.
“There will be loads of pace with Knicks Go and Medina Spirit,” said Cox. “There’s some other speed in the race. I think Knicks Go is the speed of the speed. We’re not going to take that away from him. We’re going to ask him to run out of there and establish position early. What anyone else does is up to them. We’re going to be very aggressive and hopefully he gets the lead going into the first turn and is able to clear off. I think that gives him his best opportunity to win.”
And Essential Quality …
“If Medina Spirit and Knicks Go are head-and-head and going fast early, there’s a possibility that one of them or both of them could back up,” said Cox. “That would play into Essential Quality. The one thing about Essential Quality, he’s shown his ability to adapt to pace. If it’s a hot pace he can set off and come running and if it’s a soft pace he can stay close.
“It’s probably not going to be a soft pace. We’re thinking (Medina Spirit and Knicks Go) will probably get away from Essential Quality in the early part and he’ll be running around the turn and down the lane.”
Although thoroughbreds usually get faster as 4- and 5-year-olds, Cox believes the age difference between Knicks Go and Essential Quality is “in this case a nonfactor.”
Cox said Knicks Go “matured and developed” while Essential Quality “never missed a beat.”
“Knicks Go was a happy and sound horse when we got him. He had an injury and they talked about retiring him, but the breeding season had begun, so they brought him back. He was able to catch his breath, get a breather and develop. We don’t really train him differently than any of our other horses. But he’s able to take more training. We allow him to stretch his legs. He likes to train.”
Cox ranks Essential Quality at the top of a “strong class of 3-year-olds” that includes Medina Spirit and Hot Rod Charlie.
After finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby as the favorite (he was caught in heavy traffic after starting from 14th post in the field of 19), Essential Quality won the Belmont Stakes and Travers.
“He ran a big race in the Kentucky Derby, his only defeat of his career,” saisd Cox. “You can argue he ran one of his best races that day and wound up fourth. He’s not finished developing but he is off to stud after the Breeders’ Cup.”
Center is a freelance writer.
