Brad Cox | Keeneland Opening Weekend

Let's welcome him in. His name is Brad Cox.

He is a trainer of three horses in stakes races at Keeneland

today. Brad, I'll start this interview

the same way I always start interviews with you.

How close are you to a horse and where are you?

Good morning, Louis. Thanks.

Good morning. Of course, I actually ran home

real quick to get clocked up and had the Keeneland.

So yeah, we're all right. We started a bit Churchill.

Yeah, serious question. If it were a day at Churchill,

would you have gone home to get cleaned up?

Or is it because it's Keeneland you had to get cleaned up?

Yeah, it's probably because it's Keeneland.

I don't like that at all, Brad. Brad Cox with us here.

Rod flatters with me. Tell me something nice about

Rod. Oh.

Yeah, no, he does a good job covering horse racing.

He's a good insight. So how about that?

Yeah, he's been good. There you.

Go Yeah. He's got three in the stakes

today. Ron, how about?

That well. You know, you know who I'm most

interested. I want to see you, the O Matic

tomorrow. So how's she looking?

Sunday. Sunday.

Or Sunday. Pardon me.

See, I want to see her. I want to see her tomorrow.

How good is Ron at this job? Right, exactly.

Yeah, I'm. Looking real good now, Brad.

Yeah. How's she looking for Sunday?

I'm sorry. Yeah, no, she's doing great.

She really is. She obviously drew the one hole.

You know, as long as she breaks and goes forward, I think we'll

be fine. She's she's obviously at 2

defeats and it seems like what people want to talk about.

But you know, she's she's had a great year and you know, we felt

like she was as good this year as she was last and I still

believe that. And that's funny because I hear,

you know, people talk about the Distaff division and, and, and,

you know, it seems like, you know, Dare Manor was getting a

lot of attention. And obviously, you know, the

three of Philly Torpedo Anna is very good.

She's going to hit her in that race, it sounds like.

But, you know, we need to get through Sunday.

But you know, I feel very confident she's going to run a

big race on Sunday and you know, then hopefully everything goes

well and we can turn her attention towards the Breeders

Cup. I was going to ask you about the

fact that, yeah, you have two losses, but is she as good as

she was last year and now maybe is it the rest of the

competition may be better? It's is it racing luck that got

better for others? How would you look at that?

Yeah, I, I don't know if you really have to come up with an

answer. I think that, you know, I do

feel like she's as good this year.

She was last and you know, I, her figures say she's as good

this year, she was last. So, you know, I would, I value

that more than I do people's opinion.

So, you know, we will, you know, and first and foremost, just how

she trains. So, you know, we'll see how

things go on Sunday, but I'm looking forward to hopefully

things going well. And then, you know, trying to

get her back to California obviously handled going to Santa

Anita next last year to be Del Mar this year.

And you know, she's she's really classy.

Philly doesn't get worked up. She shipped around several

different tracks, different surfaces, and she always

performs well. Cleaning himself up at his

house. His name is Brad Cox joins us

here on Robo and Co on ESPN 680-1057.

You do have three in today. You've got one trying stakes

company for the first for the second time, I should say, first

time this year in federal. Judge Geflavi and Pratt in town

today to ride this horse. Tell us a little bit about him

coming out of a win, obviously in a romp, frankly, at Saratoga.

Yeah, look, he's it's a little bit of a step up for sure.

He's going from a two other than to to a great stake and the

Grade 1 winner in the race. So, you know, look, this is a

big step up. He's a talented horse.

He's lightly raced. We've just had the two runs with

him this year and they were both, you know, good races and,

you know, looking for, you know, that step forward third race off

the layoff. Sometimes they move themselves

forward. He certainly trains like you

could do that. And he's another one that drew

the rail. I think we're going to be

aggressive away from there and you know, we'll see how he

shakes up in great estate company, very talented horse,

smart horse, easy horse to be around and you know, looking

forward to giving him an opportunity against better

horses today. You get a horse like Federal

Judge, who's a son of Army mule. Are you?

Are you a kind of a nerd for horse names like I am and

appreciate that kind of word play?

I don't know if no, not as much. I I OK.

All right. More more focused on how fast

they are. Yeah, no, that's fair enough.

The Jessamine is the next race and obviously you've got Destino

de Oro in that race. How do you prep for these kinds

of races? She's, you know, brakes are made

in the Kentucky Downs last outgoing that mile surface

there. Do you consider, say, a mile at

Kentucky Downs to be more like a mile and a 16th mile and an

eighth at a flat course? You know, I don't know what to

think of Kentucky down, to be quite honest.

You know, that was a big run from her.

She she kind of race wide around the turn as well.

But yeah, I would say it probably plays a little all the

distances probably play a little bit longer than they they

they're carted. So yeah, I think, you know,

horses get a lot out of it. I don't really get extremely

high on a horse after they break their maiden there or or run

real well, they're moving forward or the same going the

other way. I don't get real low on them

either. Angel of Empire and Wet Paint

both ended up winning grade ones at the age of three on the dirt.

We tried them on the turf and you know, I don't know, maybe

they just didn't like Kentucky Downs or they didn't like the

turf. So I obviously do think it's

really like the turf, but once again, I'm a little reserved to

get very real high on a horse based off of a win there.

Kentucky Downs just because obviously how unique Nick the

track is. Was before her race at Kentucky

Downs was the jessamine? Was this race the the goal or

did you make that decision after that race?

Totally after. I mean, you got to get your

maiden broke with these two girls before you can really turn

your attention towards steak, steak races.

But yeah, totally after she broke her maiden.

It was the logical spot, I thought, moving forward.

Before we talk about immersive, who's going to be the favorite

at post time for the the grade one Darley Alcibiades today in

Race 9? Do you do you find with the

track layout at Del Mar with that shorter stretch, this

shorter stretch at Keeneland here, do you think this actually

might be a good predictor if Immersive can be successful at

Del Mar in the Breeders Cup? I do, yeah.

I think it can be a gauge. Nixco was a horse that won the

Breeders Cup Mile at Keeneland, obviously short stretch.

He ended up winning the Pegasus the following January and I

always thought of him as more of a mile, mile and a quarter horse

or I'm sorry, mile, mile and an eighth horse.

He ended up winning the Whitney. I think it was in his best

interest that year or in his favor, I should say, that the

Breeders Cup Classic was at Delmar as opposed to a Churchill

or, you know, somewhere else. Just the, the shorter stretch

kind of helps, I think. Speed horses on the dirt for

sure. If you've ever been to Delmar,

you stand there and it's a beautiful facility, but that's

not much of A stretch out there from the top of the lane to the

wire. So you you have to be in the mix

when you turn for home. So I do think it favors feed

horses and horses that like you said, maybe run well at

Keeneland, do this stretch being a touch shorter.

Yeah, immersive here, daughter of Nyquist Bernard DD On the

mare side, stretching out doesn't seem to be an issue at

all. Do you expect her to like the

two turns? I expect her to love it.

I think you can watch her races and watch her replays and get a

good feel that she she's going to be better going a lot, lot

further. And just based off what she

showed us in the morning, her stride, her efficiency, just

everything about her has always made us think, you know, she

would be better going around two turns.

That's what we think we'll hopefully find out later today

and hopefully it goes well. How is she 12 to one in the spin

away? I don't know.

I was a little shocked. She was the price she was in her

maiden race. A couple people had asked me we

must not have liked her. I said, well, we ship one to

Kentucky, material from Kentucky to Saratoga.

We don't, I'm not saying they have to win, but we we obviously

like them. You, you have to like a 2 year

old to run them at Saratoga if you're a Kentucky based outfit.

So I'm not certain. I don't know why she was such a

price in the blue in in the spin away and obviously broke from

the one hole that day as well. So I'd overcome that.

But she's a good Philly. Looking forward to this

afternoon with her. I hope you cashed on that.

I did. As much as I like her, it's

embarrassing to say I didn't. Brad, I'll get you out of here

on the the only other question I always ask you.

I always ask you how close you are to a horse.

Very disappointed to hear that you were cleaning yourself up to

go to Keeneland, but anyone else we need to be watching this

weekend that stands out. Maybe one of your maiden

runners. Is there someone else out there?

Eclitant 2 year old Philly that broke her maiden impressively I

thought in the spring at Churchill she runs for today.

I think she, yeah, I think she's a good filly, I really do.

I think she wants to go a little further than today's distance,

but she's good enough to where she could hopefully get the job

done today and then we'll turn our attention towards stake

races. But I think she's got a bright

future. All right, well, Ron will be

down there all weekend. I'll be out there Saturday, so

look for me on Saturday and ignore Ron the other day.

There you go all. Right, guys.

Well, good luck over there. All right.

Thanks, Brad. Brad, Brad Cox training all

kinds of great horses. Go ahead.