In 2020, Brad Cox won his first Eclipse Award as a championship coach after winning four Breeders’ Cup races at KeenelandTrained two champions and earned over $18.9 million with his stables.
Those numbers are just a sampling of what’s to come in 2021, for which he was honored with a second consecutive Eclipse Award on Feb. 10. His horses have earned 31, $8 million in wallet over the past year, limited by 1-3 ends from practitioners. Knicks Go and Necessary quality in the $5.4 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).
Both horses won the Eclipse Prize, where Necessary Quality took the 3-year-old male title and Knicks Go won the older stallion and the race’s most coveted title, Horse of the Year. five.
Cox’s tally of money during the season is a one-year record for a North American coach, surpassing Chad Brown’s 2019 record by just over $31.1 million.
In addition to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the 2021 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) and Whitney Stakes (G1) wins have made Korea Racing Authority’s Knicks Go over $7.3 million. A 1st in 2nd place winner for coach Ben Colebrook, the Knicks Go soared to the top of the older class for Cox last year.
He’s not the only chic gray in the Cox barn. Godolphin Basic Quality has earned over $3.4 million, featuring a win at the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets (G1).
Cox, 41, said after Essential Quality’s Belmont stay. “Here’s what it’s all about – classics. Apparently, it was my first time tasting it. It was unbelievable.”
Only twice has Essential Quality lost in seven games starting in 2021—finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and behind Knicks Go and Medina Spirit in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
After the Classics, Cox notes that there’s rarely much time for a coach to pause to reflect on accomplishments.
“You can celebrate for about 15 minutes, maybe 30, and then it always comes back. It’s a tough job, but hopefully it leaves a legacy,” Cox said. , referring to the boys’ exercise preferences.
The quality needed wasn’t his only top performer in the Triple Crown for Cox. By Juddmonte Mandaloun cross the ropes second to Medina Spirit in the Kentucky Derby, and the Kentucky managers can lift him to first if Medina Spirit disqualified after post-race tests revealed the presence of banned betamethasone on race day.
Last summer Mandaloun won TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) by disqualification Hot Rod Charlie for interfering with another horse in the ramp.
Haskell is one of Cox’s 10 tier 1 wins in 2021 and 30 rating wins overall.
