Add the name John Hancock to the list of lightly raced, later-developing colts from the barn of Brad Cox who will attempt to make it to the Kentucky Derby.
John Hancock’s front-running, hard-fought, half-length victory over Owen Almighty in a start-to-finish, 1 1/16-mile battle in Saturday’s Sam Davis earned him a start in another Kentucky Derby points-qualifying race, though it probably won’t be in the $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby on March 8. John Hancock earned 20 Derby qualifying points for his Sam Davis victory.
Cox said after the Sam Davis that he’d prefer not to run the horse back in four weeks off such a hard effort. Races later in March, such as the Louisiana Derby on March 22 or the Arkansas Derby or Florida Derby on March 29, might be better spacing. There is also the Blue Grass and Wood Memorial on April 5.
“We’re hoping he’s a big-time colt,” said Cox, who trains John Hancock for China Horse Club and WinStar Farm. “He definitely showed some promise [Saturday].”
John Hancock was in training last summer and “got very close” to making a start at Ellis Park, Cox said. But there came a point when Cox wasn’t happy with the way John Hancock was moving, so he backed off. The horse joined Cox’s stable at Payson Park in November and made a winning debut sprinting at Tampa on Jan. 8.
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In the Sam Davis, John Hancock dueled on the inside of Owen Almighty and came back on that rival after being passed by him in midstretch. John Hancock’s final time of 1:42.27 was a stakes record for the 1 1/16-mile distance and was just .52 seconds off the track record 1:41.75 set by Stanford in the 2017 Challenger Stakes. John Hancock earned an 85 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.
John Hancock joins a string of 3-year-olds for Cox that includes Disco Time, undefeated winner of the Grade 3 Lecomte; Tappan Street, runner-up in the Grade 2 Holy Bull; Patch Adams, fourth in the Grade 3 Southwest; the New York-bred Sacrosanct, undefeated in four starts in restricted company; and recent Oaklawn Park maiden winner Rapture as horses who will point to a Derby-points scoring race.
While Sacrosanct is being pointed to the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham at Aqueduct on March 1, decisions on definite next starts for the others are still to come.
Meanwhile, Sam Davis runner-up Owen Almighty is likely going to be cut back in distance, trainer Brian Lynch said Sunday. A race like the $400,000, seven-furlong Lafayette Stakes at Keeneland on April 4 could lead to the Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby Day undercard.
Lynch said Owen Almighty came out of Saturday’s Sam Davis a bit tired, but otherwise in good order.
“I’ll talk to the group and make sure everyone’s on the same page,” Lynch said. “I think he runs really good fresh. You could have a real good summer campaign there and kick it off with the Lafayette.”
Though Poster suffered his first career defeat when finishing third in the Sam Davis, trainer Eoin Harty was pleased with the performance. Poster, who was far back early, was one of the few horses on the day to make up substantial ground.
“He had an awful lot to do considering the way the track was playing,” Harty said. “Disappointed he didn’t win, but certainly very happy with the way he ran. He showed he carried on his 2-year-old form. He could have split the field and I would have been left scratching my head, but he was finishing stronger than anybody else.”
Harty indicated that he would prefer to run Poster 1 1/8 miles next time. Since Poster won the Remsen, a 1 1/8-mile race at Aqueduct, last December, the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 5 at Aqueduct could he Poster’s next race.
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