Maxfield stays perfect, shows improved speed

Maxfield looked as good Sunday morning back in trainer Brendan Walsh’s barn at Fair Grounds as he did making his first start since May 23 on Saturday afternoon.

Maxfield, running his career record to four wins from four starts, won the $75,000 Tenacious Stakes by 2 1/2 lengths. He ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.35 and got a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He looks good, ate up good, everything is good,” Walsh said Sunday. “We’ll get him back to the track in a couple days. Normally I’d give three days off, but he can get a little fresh, so we’ll see.”

Walsh said no 2021 race plans have been set for Maxfield, whom he trains for Godolphin. The 3-year-old colt already is a Grade 1 winner having captured the Breeders’ Futurity in his second start.

“We’ll just have to see. We could come back at Fair Grounds, there’s the Pegasus, but we haven’t really sat down and talked about it. I wanted to get over [Saturday] night first. It’ll be all about him and what’s best for him,” Walsh said.

Maxfield raced much closer to the lead than in any of his three previous races, taking control at the top of the stretch and winning comfortably in what appeared to be an ideal comeback race. Florent Geroux rode Maxfield for the first time and was impressed.

“You can feel right away he’s a nice horse,” Geroux said. “Even in the paddock, you can tell – he knows he’s good.”

Cox juveniles impress

There were no stakes wins for the Brad Cox stable on Saturday at Fair Grounds, but 2-year-olds from the Cox barn looked like future stakes horses on Friday and Saturday.

On Friday, the 2-year-old filly Sun Path aced her twoturn test with a 12 3/4-length first-level allowance win. Sun Path ran one mile and 70 yards in 1:42.95 and got an 84 Beyer Speed Figure, up from the 82 she earned in a one-turn-mile maiden win at Churchill last month. Sun Path, a Juddmonte Farms homebred, is a full sister to 2020 Fair Grounds Oaks winner Bonny South, and after running well enough but losing her sprint debut at Keeneland this fall, she appears to have found her calling in route races.

“Overall, it was a big performance and we saw what we wanted to see around two turns,” Cox said Sunday. Geroux “didn’t have to ask her too much down the lane and, she came out of it in great shape.”

Cox mentioned three possible races for Sun Path – the Silverbulletday on Jan. 16 at Fair Grounds, or a pair of spots in February: the Rachel Alexandra at Fair Grounds and the Martha Washington at Oaklawn Park. Cox is pointing Golden Rod Stakes winner Travel Column to the Rachel Alexandra. He said discussions with Juddmonte North American racing manager Garrett O’Rourke and owner-breeder Khaled Abdullah would determine Sun Path’s early 2021 course.

“We want to give her the right amount of time between races if we’re thinking about the Kentucky Oaks,” Cox said.

On Saturday, the Juddmonte homebred 2-year-old colt Prate exploded onto the scene with a gigantic debut sprint victory. Prate, racing from fourth position under Geroux, bulled between horses past the quarter pole and stormed to a 4 1/4-length win, going six furlongs in 1:09.81. That was a meaningfully faster time than a pair of 2-year-old stakes earlier on the card. Prate got a 90 Beyer.

Prate is by Into Mischief out of Vaunting, by Exchange Rate, and the powerfully built gray won’t necessarily be treated as a two-turn candidate in the short term, Cox said.

“I think there’s a question mark if he’d stretch out. Just talking to Garrett O’Rourke, I think we’ll leave him around one turn for the time being. I think he and Prince Khaled are content with him being a good horse around one turn, if that’s what it turns out he is,” Cox said. “He’s a stout, strong horse, and he looked great [Sunday] morning. We’ll be in no rush with him. I wouldn’t be opposed to running him back in a firstlevel allowance here at Fair Grounds.”

‘Quality’, Monomoy Girl work

Essential Quality and Monomoy Girl, both of whom are likely to earn Eclipse Awards for their 2020 racing seasons, had their first works Sunday morning since shipping from Kentucky to Louisiana. Essential Quality went a measured three furlongs in 36.20 seconds, while Monomoy Girl’s easy three-furlong breeze didn’t receive an official clocking.

“No company, nice and easy, he handled it well and I’m very happy with what he did,” Cox said of Essential Quality.

Essential Quality won the Breeders’ Futurity and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland this fall. No plans have yet been set for his 2021 debut. Monomoy Girl, who won her second Breeders’ Cup Distaff, is aimed toward the Bayakoa Stakes at Oaklawn.