LEXINGTON, Ky. — Hard to believe, but in the 146 runnings of the Kentucky Derby, right there at Churchill Downs, right there in the heart of Louisville, no home-grown trainer has ever won the race.
“Time for that to change,” Brad Cox said on Saturday.
And it could. Having grown up two blocks from the Twin Spires, Cox could become the first Louisville-born trainer to ever win the Run for the Roses. And if he does, he might point to April 3, when his undefeated champion Essential Quality captured the $800,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, as a significant moment along the way.
Down the stretch, with jockey Luis Saez aboard, Essential Quality fought neck-and-neck with the leader, Highly Motivated, trained by Chad Brown, before the 2-5 favorite was finally able to get a neck in front for the Grade 2 victory.
“This was his first real dogfight,” said Jimmy Bell, president of Godolphin USA. “He’s shown his versatility in all his races, showing different things, on the lead, off the pace. And today he got hooked by a horse that really wanted to win as well.”
Now 5 for 5 in his career with Grade 1 wins in the Breeders’ Futurity and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, both at Keeneland, as well as the Grade 2 Blue Grass and Grade 3 Southwest, will the reigning 2-year-old champion benefit from such a tough race?
“I do, I really do (think so),” the 41-year-old Cox said afterward. “You never know how the race is going to unfold, right, but on the tote board he looks like he’s supposed to win by five going away under wraps. But I do think he benefited.”
“I was very concerned until about the last 30 yards if he was going to get by. It didn’t look like he was. But he’s a tough horse and I look back and both of those horses had four starts. Both of them their fifth starts. Both of them are good colts going the right way at the right time.”
Highly Motivated won the Nyquist Stakes on the Saturday of last year’s Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland. The son of Into Mischief — sire of last year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Authentic — took a four-month layoff before finishing third in the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct on March 6 for owner Seth Klarman of Klaravich Stables.
Brown won the 2018 Blue Grass with Good Magic, who would go on to run second to Justify in the Kentucky Derby. A four-time Eclipse Award winner for best trainer, Brown knows what he’s doing and his 3-year-old ran a strong, strong race, leading for much of the way.
But Cox is currently the game’s hottest trainer, breaking Brown’s hold to win the 2020 Eclipse Award. It was exactly three years ago that he won his first Grade 1 race with Monomoy Girl, and with four wins in last year’s Breeders’ Cup, it’s been a blur ever since.
“That feels like six months ago, to be honest with you,” Cox said Saturday of that first Grade 1 win. “I’ve had a lot of good horses, very fortunate to have a great roster of horses and clientele. Time flies with good horses. Time is rolling by quick.”
Four weeks remain until the 147th Kentucky Derby. If Concert Tour wins next Saturday’s Arkansas Derby, the Bob Baffert-trainee will receive strong consideration from the Derby betting public. But Essential Quality is still expected to be the favorite, especially after Saturday’s pair of surprises — the 72-1 Bourbonic winning the Wood Memorial; the 5-1 turf horse Rock Your World winning the Santa Anita Derby — in the day’s other major Kentucky Derby preps.
“He’s been so consistent, so sound the whole time,” Cox said. “You just kind of hope that everything can stay that way over the next four weeks. He’s very familiar with Churchill. He likes Churchill, the trains extremely well.”
But Saturday at Keeneland, Essential Quality was tested. And passed.
“This was another big step forward for him,” Bell said. “I think this will set him up well.”
Said Cox, “I’m very proud that this horse was able to pull it out.”
