First Mission back to winning ways in the Oaklawn Handicap (Coady Media)
Robert Yates/Oaklawn Park
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — First Mission has a guaranteed spot in the $250,000 Pimlico Special Stakes (G3) May 16 Pimlico, but his team (breeder/owner Godolphin and trainer Brad Cox) has bigger plans for the 5-year-old son of Street Sense.
A first career Grade 1 victory.
“Absolutely,” Michael Banahan, bloodstock director for Godolphin, USA, said moments after First Mission’s two-length victory in the $1.25 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) Saturday at Oaklawn. “We tried last year. He was the favorite in the Stephen Foster. We’ll go back and have a look at that this year and see if we can get that one done at Churchill Downs.”
The $1 million Stephen Foster Stakes (G1) for older horses at 1 1/8 miles is June 28.
First Mission ($4.80) had a strong audition for a fourth shot in Grade 1 company, winning the Oaklawn Handicap, a 1 1/8-mile race for older horses, under Flavien Prat. As part of the Maryland Jockey Club’s “Win Today, See You in May” series, First Mission earned automatic entry into the 1 3/16-mile Pimlico Special.
First Mission, the 7-5 favorite, ran 1 1/8 miles over a fast track in a meet-best 1:49.09 to generate a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 109, a career high. Cox targeted the Oaklawn Handicap after First Mission finished third, beaten less than a length, in his 2025 debut, the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) Feb. 23 at Oaklawn.
“He’d been training super since the beginning of the year,” Banahan said. “Ever since his prep race down here, he’s done even better. He (Cox) made the comment that he couldn’t wait for this day to come along a couple of weeks ago. He was confident that he would run well. It was a tough race, so we’re just glad to see the horse do that. We’ve always liked him and thought he was of that quality. To come out and beat a good field like that today was very rewarding.”
The Razorback marked First Mission’s first start since finishing seventh in the $1 million Whitney Stakes (G1) for older horses at 1 1/8 miles Aug. 3 at Saratoga. Cox said First Mission emerged from the Whitney a tired horse and he didn’t return to the work tab until early December at Fair Grounds.
First Mission ran in two other Grade 1 races last year, finishing ninth in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes at 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream Park and fourth in the Stephen Foster.
First Mission was the 5-2 second choice in the program for the 2023 Preakness – the second leg of the Triple Crown – before being scratched on the eve of the race with a left hind leg issue.
“We thought we were set up a couple of times,” Cox said, referring to a Grade 1 victory. “The Preakness, we had a setback there. I thought we were ready to roll in the Stephen Foster last year. Didn’t work out quite as well as we hoped.”
The Oaklawn Handicap was the fourth career graded stakes victory for First Mission and sixth victory in 12 starts overall. He also won the $600,000 Essex Handicap (G3) for older horses at 1 1/8 miles last year at Oaklawn. First Mission has $2,060,170 in career earnings.
The Oaklawn Handicap was the second of two stakes victories Saturday at Oaklawn for Cox, who also won the $200,000 Bathhouse Row for 3-year-olds with Instant Replay.
Jorgito Abrego, who oversees trainer Cox’s Oaklawn division, said First Mission and Instant Replay emerged from their races in good shape physically. Both horses, Abrego said, were to ship Wednesday night to Churchill Downs, where Cox is based.
