Mundaye Call won the $100,000 RUNHAPPY Audubon Oaks under Florent Geroux for one of trainer Brad Cox’s 10 victories. Coady Photography
Brad Cox, who also won the Ellis Park training title in 2015 and 2018, had four chances to break out of a tie with Kenny McPeek on Sunday but settled for a tie at 10 wins apiece after his best finish was second on the closing card.
McPeek had won training titles at Churchill Downs, Keeneland and Kentucky Downs but had never been the meet leader at Ellis Park, where he was stabled for 10 summers early in his career. With no horses running at Ellis Park, he kept tabs on how Cox was doing Sunday on the app Horse Races Now, which Kenny McPeek developed.
Cox sent out a meet-high 53 starters, who also accumulated 11 seconds and fourth thirds. McPeek had only 25 starters, with two seconds and a third.
“We had a great meet,” McPeek said. “We had a lot of horses who came into it perfect. I liked the distance 2-year-old races, and I think we even had one win going short. Overall, the team did a great job. We brought up some from Florida (where he has a year-round division) to run, so it was a great summer. It’s a fun meet.”
Cox did win the money title at $450,261, including stakes victories with Factor This ($100,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Cup) and Mundaye Call ($100,000 RUNHAPPY Audubon Oaks).
“I was happy with the meet,” he said. “It’s a great place to start a lot of young horses, to get them going. Whether they won or not, at least we got some races into them and the meet offered a lot of options as far as turf and dirt. The place has been extremely good to us, and we think a lot of Ellis Park. We’re able to stable there, and it’s a big part of our operation for sure. It’s a good meet, and we’re looking forward to bigger and better things to come.”
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