Cox has upcoming decisions for talented older dirt horses

With Idiomatic having all but conquered the distaff division leading her connections to entertain the idea of racing against older males, First Mission rising toward the top of the older horse division, and Hit Show a strong comeback winner of his 4-year-old debut, trainer Brad Cox already had some thinking to do about how and where to place horses in important dirt routes this summer. And after Highland Falls won the Grade 3, $275,000 Blame Stakes on Saturday at Churchill, Cox had another horse to consider for Grade 1 races at nine furlongs and beyond.

The emphasis there is on “beyond.” The Blame was contested at 1 1/8 miles, which might be shorter than Highland Falls’s ideal trip. On Saturday, Highland Falls took a furlong and a half to find his full finishing stride after being asked around the far turn by jockey Florent Geroux.

“He’s very steady,” Cox diplomatically said. “I think that Curlin shows up there late.”

Four-year-old Highland Falls is by Curlin and out of Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Round Pond, who had produced two stakes winners, Long River and Lake Lucerne, but not a graded stakes winner. A Godolphin homebred, Highland Falls didn’t make the races until August of his 3-yearold season. His stakes debut came this winter in the Santa Anita Handicap; Highland Falls finished fourth and might have won had he reached the form that earned him a second-place Oaklawn Handicap finish and his Blame win.

“Lightly raced, continuing to improve,” Cox said.

Cox isn’t sure the path Highland Falls will take, but his major goal is the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup over 1 1/4 miles on Sept. 1 at Saratoga. First Mission is headed for the Stephen Foster on June 29 at Churchill, while Hit Show could have the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker as a target.

This past Sunday, Cox sent the 3-year-old Arrogate colt Dragoon Guard, a Juddmonte homebred, out for his second straight win, an easy first-level allowance tally that followed a second-start Keeneland maiden win in April. In his race last weekend, Dragoon Guard led while well in hand and showed plenty of spark when challenged in upper stretch, quickly drawing clear in a one-turn mile.

“I think he’s meant to be a two-turn horse. He’s a really big horse, plenty of leg, and doesn’t look like a horse who’d have speed, but he does,” Cox said.

Dragoon Guard could make his next start July 19 at Saratoga in the restricted Curlin Stakes.

Juddmonte, who already campaigns the best older dirt female in 5-year-old Idiomatic, now has a rising 4-year-old in the division but with trainer Bill Mott.

Scylla passed a second twoturn test June 1 in the Grade 3 Shawnee Stakes, winning that 1 1/16-mile contest by 3 1/4 lengths. Scylla first tried two turns in the Doubledogdare at Keeneland and finished a wellbeaten third as the favorite. Mott cut her back to a one-turn mile for a Derby Day allowance race, where Scylla romped, and added blinkers for the Shawnee. Scylla, by Tapit out of five-time Grade 1 winner Close Hatches, has run only six times and still is learning how to race. Mott credited progress in that area, as well as the equipment change, for the Shawnee victory.

“A little bit of both. The blinkers put her right up in the race. I hate to see them keep getting shuffled back,” Mott said.

Scylla is a possible starter June 29 in the Fleur de Lis at Churchill, though Mott said concrete plans haven’t been formed for the filly.

Ward has small Ascot group

It’s that time of year for trainer Wesley Ward. An annual participant at Royal Ascot, Ward will be back this month with a relatively small group of 2-year-olds, three fillies and perhaps one colt.

Ward said he plans to run Ultima Grace in the fivefurlong Queen Mary Stakes on Wednesday, June 19. He’ll also have Saturday Flirt in the Norfolk the following day, and Burning Pine in the Albany on that Friday. John Velazquez is booked to ride Ultima Grace, Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount on Saturday Flirt, and Joel Rosario rides Burning Pine. All the races are run down a straight course, the Queen Mary and Norfolk over five furlongs, the Albany at six.

The colt Honorary American is possible for the Windsor Castle, also June 19, pending his work this weekend at Keeneland, Ward said Wednesday.

Ward has won 12 Royal Ascot races but none the last two years: Campanelle’s tally in the 2021 Commonwealth Cup was his last success.

Ultima Grace, by American Pharoah, was a 3 3/4-length winner of her lone start, a relatively slow April 18 Keeneland dirt maiden. Saturday Flirt, a Mendelssohn filly bred and owned by Ward, was a sharp winner of her April 25 debut in a Keeneland turf maiden, while Burning Pine, by Nyquist, was an easy dirt-maiden winner the following day.

Extra Anejo in no rush

The star-crossed 4-year-old Extra Anejo scored a rousing 3 1/2-length allowance win May 30 at Churchill in his latest return from a layoff.

A $1.35 million yearling owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, Extra Anejo, a massive beast, was one of the most impressive 2-year-old winners of 2022 but didn’t start between his October debut and the following May. Fourth in the Haskell last July, he suffered another setback and didn’t start again until last week.

Extra Anejo, by Into Mischief, has only raced around two turns once, in the Haskell, and won at seven furlongs last week with a 96 Beyer Speed Figure. His record aside, the colt looks and acts like a two-turn horse.

“He’s a horse we’ve always thought was meant for the highest-level races, and we still think that,” trainer Steve Asmussen said.

Asmussen said he’s in no rush for Extra Anejo to prove he truly is top class. The hope this summer is for the horse to stay sound, get on a racing pattern, and see where that takes him.

Meanwhile, Skelly remains a likely runner in the Grade 1 Vanderbilt on July 27 at Saratoga despite finishing second as the overwhelming favorite June 1 in the Aristides Stakes at Churchill. Skelly broke slowly, quickly came up to set the pace, and was run down late by 18-1 shot Closethegame Sugar. Skelly got a 96 Beyer after posting figures of 105, 103, and 102 in his three U.S. races earlier this year.

◗ Tony Ann, a 6-year-old graded stakes dropper, meets rising 4-year-old Beauty of the Sea and eight others Friday in Churchill’s featured fifth race, a turf sprint with multiple high-end allowance conditions, a $175,000 claiming option, and a $148,000 purse. The Phil D’Amato-trained Tony Ann, winner of the Grade 2 Franklin last fall at Keeneland, probably didn’t love the yielding course finishing eighth May 3 at Churchill in the Unbridled Sydney.