The connections of Monomoy Girl gathered in the Saratoga Room after the filly’s victory in Sunday’s Coaching Club American Oaks. The group included Michael Dubb, Stuart Grant, Brad Weisbord, Liz Crow and plenty of others who contributed to the filly’s success, all savoring the moment and the bubbling champagne. In the center of the group stood trainer Brad Cox.
Around Cox, adorning the walls in the luxurious space were paintings of champion racehorses from bygone eras: Common, Man o’ War, Newminster, Kentucky and Galcador. And on the flat screen on the wall, a probable new champion, Monomoy Girl. Someone pressed Cox for a speech. The boisterous crowd fell silent, anticipating the insight the conditioner would offer. The 38-year-old thanked his team and summed it up in four words:
“Here’s to a champion.”
“Here, here,” rang out from the crowd as glasses dinged and clanged together in cheers. The room erupted into cacophony again as the jubilant group celebrated the Grade 1 victory. The Coaching Club was Monomoy Girl’s fourth such win this season; the Tapizar daughter previously captured the Ashland, Kentucky Oaks and Acorn. Her Coaching Club win likely seals the deal on the Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old filly.
“Hopefully she is one,” Cox said later while walking back to the barn. “I’m not superstitious, but four Grade 1s this year, she’s undefeated this year. Hey, maybe Eclipse, maybe Horse of the Year, who knows?
“It’s funny because I was here a couple years ago, and I had the opportunity to see Songbird win. I thought, ‘man, what’s it take to get a filly like that.’ I’m not saying she’s Songbird, but she’s definitely accomplished a lot at this point in her career. I’m very proud of her.”
For Cox, getting a filly the caliber of Monomoy Girl has been a long road. His 13-year training career hasn’t always been easy, but owners like Sol Kumin’s Monomoy Stables, Dubb, The Elkstone Group and Bethlehem Stables helped elevate Cox’s career to the big stage. Cox earned his first Grade 1 in Monomoy Girl’s Ashland triumph. He also teamed with Kumin on multiple graded stakes-placed mare Sassy Little Lila and Majestic Affair, who won the Good Lord Stakes at Ellis Park about 45 minutes before Monomoy Girl’s run at Saratoga.
“It’s been a long road, wouldn’t change anything about it. These horses are teaching you things day in and day out,” Cox said. “It’s a tough business, but we’ve weathered the storm. A lot of cold nights at Turfway Park in the winters and a lot of hot summer days at Ellis Park and it’s rewarding and it’s awesome to have a filly like this and she’s a horse that’s once in a lifetime, really.
“I have several horses for Sol, we have a great rapport together, we get along great,” Cox said. “Sol’s been huge for my career and my business. Sol’s been very good for my career and it meant a lot to me that I could get my first Grade 1 win with him and he was a part of it.”
Cox’s once-in-a-lifetime filly didn’t overly impress as a 2-year-old. Cox watched on his cell phone as Monomoy Girl broke her maiden at first asking in a 1-mile grass race at Indiana Downs last September. She cleared the first-level allowance condition in her next start on the Churchill Downs turf course, but it wasn’t until her victory on dirt in the Rags to Riches Stakes at Churchill in late October that Cox began to understand the filly’s talent.
“To be honest, we didn’t know she was a great horse in the beginning. She didn’t really stand out compared to other 2-year-olds we had,” Cox said. “She obviously broke her maiden and won the allowance at Churchill and I’ll be the first one to admit, I still questioned how good she was until she ran in the Rags to Riches and ran a big race on the dirt. She definitely made us take notice then, like this could be a really good filly.”
Nine months after her Rags to Riches score, Monomoy Girl recorded her front-running victory in the Coaching Club. She broke with the pack and rider Florent Geroux wasted no time hustling her to the lead. He shook up the reins and with a few taps on her right shoulder, Monomoy Girl accelerated between Midnight Bisou and Gio Game to assume the top spot.
“Monomoy Girl has a little bit more speed than Midnight Bisou,” Geroux said. “Everybody knew if she broke decently she would be on the lead or very close, and Midnight Bisou didn’t have as much speed as us.”
With Geroux standing tall in the irons and taking a good hold of his mount, Monomoy Girl dictated a :24.12 opening quarter. Gio Game prompted the pace, racing just off the leader’s right flank while Midnight Bisou followed in third 2 1/2 lengths behind.
Monomoy Girl raced through a :48.23 half and dispatched Gio Game angling into the far turn. Mike Smith guided Midnight Bisou around that tiring rival at the midway point of the turn and began to pump away on his mount. Geroux stood motionless on Monomoy Girl past 6 furlongs in 1:12.43.
Swinging into the lane, Midnight Bisou worked to within 1 1/2 lengths of the lead. Geroux took a lower stance in the saddle and asked his mount. With a handful of right-handers at the furlong pole, Monomoy Girl extended and Midnight Bisou couldn’t keep pace. The expected rivalry between the two fillies evaporated as Monomoy Girl’s lead grew to 3 lengths nearing the wire, Geroux simply riding his filly out to the finish.
“She’s been working lights out in the morning and I was expecting the same kind of effort since the beginning of 2018,” Geroux said. “I would’ve been shocked if she didn’t run the way she did today.”
Monomoy Girl’s Coaching Club victory improves her record to eight wins from nine races, her only defeat being a neck loss in the Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes last November. The $100,000 Keeneland September 2016 purchase has earned $1,660,750. As is so rarely the case in horse racing, everything in Monomoy Girl’s 3-year-old campaign has gone according to Cox’s plan.
“To put a game plan together and execute it, it’s very hard to do just because of the setbacks these horses have and the hurdles you have to jump and the bumps in the road, but she’s just been a trooper, solid works week in, week out,” he said. “We’re just very proud of what she’s accomplished.”
– Additional reporting by Shayna Tiller
