Brad Cox Enters Three Horses in 2023 Belmont Stakes

The road to Belmont victory goes through the barn of Brad Cox, trainer of three of the nine entrants in this year’s Test of the Champion. These include beaten Kentucky Derby favorite Angel of Empire, Withers (G3) winner Hit Show, and Bath House Row Stakes second-place finisher Tapit Shoes, who seeks his first graded stakes win in the Belmont.

Brad Cox got his first career win in 2004, and his first graded stakes win in 2014, making him one of the newer faces at the top echelon of American horse racing. His rise, particularly since that victory in the 2014 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (G3) with Carve, has been meteoric. He comes into Belmont weekend with over 2,000 wins and over $146 million in career purse earnings, a dizzying amount for such a young trainer.

He earned his first Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer in 2020. That year, he won an amazing four Breeders’ Cup races: the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Aunt Pearl, the TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with Essential Quality, the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with Knicks Go, and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff with Monomoy Girl. He won the award again in 2021, a year that culminated in a Breeders’ Cup Classic win for Knicks Go.

He has had nine Breeders’ Cup winners since 2018, including last year’s upset Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) winner Caravel. His Breeders’ Cup record shows he can train an elite horse at any distance, surface, or age: his nine wins have come in eight different Breeders’ Cup races, proving he is a leading trainer at America’s most important racing festival.

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Brad Cox History in Triple Crown Races

As a trainer who has only recently surfaced at the top level of horse racing, Brad Cox does not have as long a list of winners in the American classics as the likes of Todd Pletcher or Bob Baffert. However, he is fast amassing an impressive resume.

Kentucky Derby

Cox has run nine horses in the Kentucky Derby to date, including a remarkable four this year. He had some serious beginners’ luck in 2021, the first year he ever had a horse in the Run for the Roses. After the disqualification of Medina Spirit, his horses Mandaloun and Essential Quality placed first and third, respectively. He ran three horses in 2022, with the best finisher being seventh-place Tawny Port. He trained four entrants in the 2023 Kentucky Derby, including betting favorite Angel of Empire, whose third-place finish gave Cox the best placing of his contingent.

Cox has made even more of a name for himself so far at Churchill Downs in the Kentucky Oaks. He won the 2018 edition with Monomoy Girl and the 2020 edition with Shedaresthedevil. 

Preakness Stakes

Out of the Triple Crown races, Cox has the least experience in the Preakness Stakes, though it was the first-ever three-year-old classic where he ran a horse. He ran Owendale and Warrior’s Charge in the 2019 Preakness; these horses finished second and third behind War of Will. However, Cox has not run in the Preakness since.

Belmont Stakes

Before his three-deep contingent this year, Cox has only run one horse in the Belmont. However, that entry worked out well for him. The trainer won the 2021 Belmont Stakes with Essential Quality, the two-year-old champion and beaten Derby favorite.

Check out more Belmont Stakes coverage from The Duel:

Brad Cox Horses in the 2023 Belmont

Cox sends out three horses for the final jewel of the Triple Crown this year, including one of the likely shortest-priced horses, one likely to be a middle price, and one who will be one of the longest shots in the field.

Angel of Empire

Angel of Empire upset the Risen Star (G1) at Fair Grounds, rallying late into a pace collapse, but has proven in two starts since that his victory there was no fluke. He finished strongly at a more reasonable pace in the Arkansas Derby (G1), showing that he did not need the race handed to him in order to run well. Although he only ran third as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby, it was still a good effort. He was closing in on the top two horses in the final furlong, running like a horse whose stamina may stretch out beyond even the demanding Classic distance. However, without a rapid pace likely in the Belmont, he will have to deal with a challenging race flow.

Hit Show

Hit Show looked like a rising star for Cox when he won the Withers by open lengths. However, handicappers’ opinions on him cooled when, despite being a strong favorite in the Wood (G2), he was caught by outsider Lord Miles. Cox kept the faith and entered him in the Run for the Roses, and Hit Show outran his expectations and finished fifth: good for the last purse check. Though the 1 ½-mile distance may test Hit Show’s stamina, the fact that he was fairly close to a hot Derby pace gives him some upside with a slower pace likely in the Belmont.

Tapit Shoes

The longest shot of the Cox trio in the Belmont, Tapit Shoes makes his graded stakes debut in the race. A later bloomer, Tapit Shoes debuted in October at Churchill Downs, broke his maiden at Fair Grounds in December, and comes in from a second-place finish behind Red Route One in the Bath House Row at Oaklawn, going 1 ⅛ miles. He is a half-brother to Brad Cox’s 2022 Haskell (G1) winner Cyberknife, who did his best work between a mile and 1 ⅛ miles. However, being by Tapit may help this colt stretch out a bit further, and his tactical speed should suit the race flow.