Brad Cox | Ohio Derby 2024

I'm really happy to welcome in Who's a man who's become a

friend of the show. His name is trainer Brad Cox.

He joins us here on the phone. Brad, where are you right now

and how close are you to a horse?

Churchill Downs, about 5 feet. There we go.

He's Brad Cox. He's got Catching Freedom

running in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby up in Cleveland this

weekend. When did he when did he ship and

how is he feeling this week? He's, I'm training really well.

I had a great move last weekend here at Churchill, give us the

confidence to enter in the Ohio Derby and ship yesterday.

So he settled in up there in good order, tried to beat the

heat, shipping up. I don't know if we beat it, but

he's there. He robbed in good order and he's

doing well. There you go Brad Cox with us.

You can find his horse catching freedom running in the Grade 3

Ohio Derby tomorrow. Look, I think lost in in this

Triple Crown season is actually how well this horse performed in

the first two legs of it was just outside of that photo

finish in the Kentucky Derby runs a really game third man,

probably a step away from running second in the Preakness.

Kind of sum up how he ran in the Triple Crown, how you felt after

those two races. You know, they were big efforts,

both of them, Derby and Preakness.

He gave us a thrill in both races.

Thought he had a shot to win them.

He put himself in a good position, just couldn't quite

get there. So overall, you know, happy with

the performances and you know, the horse is very durable.

I mean he's he's been pretty much rocking and rolling since

last spring when he came in as a 2 year old and didn't debut till

September. But he's been pretty steady

since. A very sound horse, consistent,

always shows up, runs his race. And, you know, I kind of

thought, take a step back here, try to get some confidence with

him. If he runs his race, I think

he'll be right there. And that's, you know, part of

the plan, kind of taking some of the Owendale approach we took in

2019. He won the Ohio Derby and and

then ended up going to the Traverse.

He was fourth or fifth in the traverse.

But, you know, we're hoping we can build off this.

Hopefully everything goes while we're trying to win the race.

And if all goes well, we can, you know, stick our toe back

into some deeper water grade one territory later in the summer.

Can you kind? Of explain that for people who

are listening, who might not understand that actually horses

need confidence that a horse like catching freedom, you know,

sees a couple horses in front of him in a couple of races after

winning a race like the Louisiana Derby, you know, just

the confidence boost of winning an Ohio Derby.

Do I mean, do you know, I there might be someone listening right

now who's like really a horse knows whether he won the race or

not? I mean, is it, you know, can you

kind of describe that? I think they're all different,

but I, I never think it hurts that like, you know, teacher or

not necessarily teach them, but get them back in the win column,

get some confidence for the horse and us as well, the

owners, the trainers, the jockey and stuff.

Get, you know, give everybody a little confidence and listen,

it's good money. I mean, it's a half million

dollar purse and it's a grade 3 and you know, obviously he's a

grade 2 winner. He does need to pick up a grade

one to increase his value as a stallion.

But you know, no, there's something to be said for, you

know, taking a step back. I mean, it's just like playing

basketball. You, you know, if you're a top

five team in the country, it it gets tough when you're playing

against the top every single week.

You have to take a breather, step back and play a sometimes a

lesser team and you still got to show up and play.

So I mean, he's, you know, he's definitely got a, you know, put

in a big effort tomorrow in Cleveland in order to win.

But, you know, we're hoping his best effort is is good enough.

The works look great. You got Luis Saez making the

trip to Cleveland to ride Catching Freedom this Saturday.

I think the only thing that I look at on the on the form that

might bother me is a mile and an eighth.

It's it's a weird thing to say about a horse that he might like

more distance than that. But do you think he sets up well

at a mile and an eighth at Thistle now?

I I, I do, I think he he ran well going to mile and 30

sixteenth there at the fairgrounds this winter.

You know, his his running the mile and 30 sixteenth Preakness

was good cutting back a 16th of mile.

I think just he'll handle it fine.

I mean, he broke his maiden a one term mile at Churchill.

He he he performed well in the smarty Jones going to mile the

16th at at Oakland. So I, I don't think the distance

is an issue. I'd say the biggest concern is

probably lack of pace in there. I'm not sure where there's

there's going to be a lot of pace, but I do think Louie on

him, he should be able to break and get a good position wherever

that may be. I think kind of laying mid pack

somewhere early in the race. Brad Cox with us, he does train

Catching Freedom, who will be in the Ohio Derby tomorrow up there

at Thistle dot. Louie Saez gets them out in that

one. I wanted to ask you about a

different runner that you have this weekend.

She'll be running tomorrow. Name is Queen of Paris, daughter

of Tappet, has run once at the end of May.

You're running her back here essentially a month later,

stretching her out to go the two turns that mile in the 16th.

They seem to run so many races at Churchill going that mile in

the 16th. Brad, I got to tell you this

looks like one of your kind of runners runs once at 7, does

really well. I thought she looked really good

on debut with Flora Giroux gets Flora again here.

Expectations for her this year. Is this a hey, if she wins

tomorrow, we try to figure out some higher level races, maybe

above the allowance level, or are we trying to still figure

out what she's what she wants to do?

Honestly, I, I do like her. I like her with the more ground,

more ground tomorrow. But I think she right now she's

probably take a step at a time with her.

I'm not certain we would jump into graded company or state

company if she was able to get it done tomorrow.

But, you know, we'll let her tell us and see how she performs

tomorrow and kind of go from there.

Yeah, she's an interesting entry in that spot.

It's a really cool field, actually, for those of us

observing from the outside. You've had her training at

Indiana and at Ellis Park. Is that more a question of

logistics than anything else? Yeah, I wasn't certain I was

going to run her back at Churchill, but she did go down,

tell us she was meant to run there maybe in July.

She worked twice there. I like what we see.

We we like what we saw from her. So we thought, you know, let's

just go ahead and run her. It's a big purse.

She's getting more ground going to mile and 16th and just

thought it made sense. There you go, Brad Cox with us,

trainer of Catching Freedom. Tomorrow's Ohio Derby Queen of

Paris will be running. In case people are wondering,

that's race 8:00 tomorrow at Churchill Downs after the

Chicago Stakes. You didn't have a rudder in the

Chicago Stakes this year. I was a little surprised at

that. Yeah.

Now we wanted a couple years ago with Lady Rock and I think we

were third in it last year with Macarea.

But yeah, didn't really have anything that that fit the fit

the the race this year and had to set it out.

It's a good, it's a good race, though.

Yeah, busy day for you. You've got three maidens in at

Churchill Downs today, two of them in the ninth race.

Anybody stand out for you? Trying something new today.

Well, we have two first time starters with kinetic breaking

from the one whole another, but often horse that probably needs

two turns. We've had two siblings to this

horse that went on to win great at stake.

So I do think he's going to be a nice horse.

I'm not certain today's his day, but it's, you know, a good

opportunity to get him started. We have 1/2 to so life is good

most one he's a nice cold seems to be forward enough, good mind

does everything right. I think he's quick enough to win

going 7-8. So I think he'll he'll he should

perform well. And we've got a 2 year old today

making her first start. She's been pretty good in the

morning, say into Mr. Philly. Most in the misters are good.

She seems to be one of them and he's going 5 1/2 and I do think

she's probably meant to go a little further.

She's a Philly with plenty of leg underneath of her good way

going and thinking that, you know, longer distances down the

line. But she does seem precocious

enough to possibly wing on five and a half.

Take take our listeners behind the scenes.

You know, you've got so her name is Eklaton.

She's running in the fourth race today.

Is that a horse that you're you're looking at and you're

thinking, OK, how do I get her ready for the fall for Breeders'

Cup? Or how am I getting her ready

for, you know, for the Oaks for next year?

Or is it more just, hey, let's this is a 2 year old horse.

We're trying to figure out what she is right now.

I think it's a little bit more of just trying to figure them

out right now. But you know, I think she's give

us enough confidence to think if she wins today, you know, she

could be one that can possibly show up at Saratoga in a stake

if she does what we need her to do today.

I would say that's as far along as I'm thinking right now.

You know, we we kind of let them get ready on their own.

We don't push them too much. We let them kind of determine

whether if they're if they're going to be early or not.

I would declare this as being early so early in the season,

being like June to June. So, you know, I think the best

is yet to come, but I do think she's forward enough to where

she could be affected today. Really.

And and last question here for you, but you know, you've got

catching freedom in the Ohio Derby.

Let's say he does go up there and he does the job and he and

he wins the the race. Are we likely to see him again

back at Churchill Downs, or do you think Saratoga's more likely

landing spot for him? It could be the Haskell Mama,

could be the Jim Dandy Saratoga, could be the Travers of

Saratoga. So I I do think you could see

him at Churchill. But I would say if all goes well

tomorrow, you're seeing between, you're seeing at a track on the

East Coast where you'll see the Churchill again.

We'll probably come back to Churchill to train, but not not

race. Got it.

I'm going to be at the Haskell, so let's just send him to the

Haskell. Is that something we could just

do for me? Is that all right?

Is that? Yeah, if it's not him, I'm

hoping it's someone, so we'll see.

There you go. Who else do we need to be

watching for the Brad Cox Barton right now?

Come on, you got to have somebody that you're.

Excited about well first mission I mean obviously a lot of people

know about him, but he's going to run into Stephen foster next

weekend. He's really doing well he's

going to have his final breeze tomorrow hit show's doing real

well. He's going to the the Cornhusker

at Prairie Meadows in two weeks, so we got some exciting stuff

coming up. Belmont at Saratoga.

How did you take all that in? Did you like it?

I like all of it, with the exception of idiomatic getting

beat 1/2 ahead. How did she come out of that

race, by the way? How's she doing?

Really good. Good.

Yeah, She's doing great. She's doing great.

She's she's back here at Churchill and and back to the

track and training. Phenomenal.

She's very, very durable, very happy what what she's

accomplished and she's a champion and looking forward to

getting her started. Not sure where we're going to

run her next, but she's really doing well.

How good is Thorpedo Anna? I know she's not in your barn,

but how good is that Philly? She's good.

I think she's one of the better Phillies we've seen since

Monomoy girl. I don't know if she's as good as

Monomoy girl, but she's she's really, really good.

But I I do think she's one of the best Phillies we've seen

since her in 2018. When you.

See a guy like Katie Mcpeak sweep the Oaks in the Derby.

What? What goes through Brad Cox's

mind? There's hope that I can do it.

I'm joking, but Nah, you know, it's, you know, I will tell you

this, I've been fortunate to have been part of the Derby the

last few years with several runners.

And if there's one race where it just comes down to lock and

getting the trip, that's the race.

I mean, really twenty horses. I mean, it's, it's, it's, you

know, it doesn't matter how good your horse is doing or if you

got the best horse, It's just about getting a trip and having

a race and left. And, and you know, a lot of

credit to those guys. They did a great job with that

horse and they got a great trip and Brian gave them a great ride

and it worked out. Our Ridiculous podcast is

hosting the Indiana Derby Draw. Will I be calling your name for

the Indiana Derby draw? More likely or less likely?

Oh, very likely. Not sure who yet though.

OK, got to get to work, got to get to work.

Star works this this weekend and next weekend.

But yes, totally intend on bringing someone.

All right, well, good. How about that Little grade 3

Indiana Oaks, little grade 3 Indiana Derby as well?

Where's Brad Cox? We'll let you get back to work.

I appreciate you jumping on with us here on ESPN 681 O 5 S.

Thanks, Lee Talk. To you.

All right. See you, Brad.

Thank you. Appreciate Brad Cox.

There you go.