BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Trainer Brad Cox, winner of the Eclipse Award as Outstanding Trainer in 2020 and 2021, will have his second career starter in a Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Florida Sire Stakes event Saturday with 3-5 morning line favorite Stunner in the $300,000 My Dear Girl. The mile-and-a-sixteenth contest features a field of seven 2-year-old fillies by registered Florida stallions including R Morning Brew and Win N Your In, respective winners of the $100,000 Desert Vixen and $200,000 Susan’s Girl, the first two legs of the filly division in the prestigious series.
Cox, whose only previous Florida Sire Stakes starter was Fleet Dude, third-place finisher in the 2016 My Dear Girl won by Dude Fantasy, invades the Florida Sire Stakes series this year after Stunner scored in the $150,000 Tempted at Aqueduct on Nov. 2.
Owned by LNJ Foxwoods, who won the 2021 My Dear Girl with Outfoxed, and Church Street Stable, Stunner took the one-mile Tempted by three-and-a-half lengths after leading from the start. She also broke her maiden in front-running fashion at Aqueduct on Sept. 26, winning her second race by three-and-a-half lengths against maiden special weight fillies.
Stunner is by Girvin out of Spun Beauty, by Hard Spun and was bred in Florida by the late Brereton C. Jones.
A $190,000 purchase by Alex Solis II and Jason Litt at 2023 Fasig-Tipton Fall Yearling Sale, Stunner has earned $152,000 in her three starts.
Stunner be ridden by Edgard Zayas from post one. Zayas also rode Outfoxed and 2019 My Dear Girl-winner Two Sixty.
Troy Johnson and Maritza Weston’s Win N Your In is the second choice on the morning line at 3-1 after winning the seven-furlong Susan’s Girl by four-and-a-half lengths in her last race on Oct. 19.
Trained by Carlos David, Win N Your In is a two-time stakes winner having also won the $95,000 Sharp Susan going six furlongs at Gulfstream Park on Aug. 10 before finishing third in the Desert Vixen.
“I think she’s going to stretch out pretty good,” David said of the extra distance in the two-turn My Dear Girl. “Obviously, we have Brad Cox’s filly coming from out of town with huge numbers. But it’s like when we go to Churchill, we go out west. Horses, sometimes they don’t handle the traveling well and maybe they don’t like the track as much.
“My filly has won here three times, two stakes, and she’s going to love the two turns, I think. She’ll be okay. She’s doing really, really good. Hopefully we’ll finish her 2-year-old campaign on top and I’ll be excited to see what she’s got as a 3-year-old.”
Win N Your In is by Ocala Stud’s leading first crop sire Win Win Win out of Hello Rosie, by Yes It’s True and was bred in Florida by Marion G. Montanari. She has three wins in five starts with two thirds and earnings of $218,950.
Win N Your In will break from post six with jockey Miguel Vasquez, an eight-time winner of Florida Sire Stakes races including the 2020 My Dear Girl with Princess Secret.
“She’s rateable. She can go to the lead or she can stay back. I’m going to leave it up to Miguel,” David said. “He came and breezed her [Sunday] morning and he thinks she feels awesome. We’re going to go into the race with confidence and hopefully we come through.”
R Morning Brew will likely test Stunner early in the My Dear Girl after winning her first two career starts while leading from gate to wire. She won a six-furlong maiden special weight in the slop at Gulfstream on Aug. 9 by four-and-a-half lengths before taking the Desert Vixen by five-and-a-half lengths.
“Her first race was a bit of a surprise and her second race was awesome,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “The last time she didn’t fire for whatever reason, whether it be because she needs to get the lead or not. But we’re going to take care of that and try to put her on the lead and eliminate that excuse.”
R Morning Brew is by Curlin’s Honor, who stands at Pleasant Acres Stallions, out of Foolhearted Woman, by Uncaptured. Bred in Florida by Dori Morgan Hyatt, R Morning Brew sold to current owner Rich Averill’s Averill Racing for $30,000 at this year’s Ocala Breeders’ Sales Spring Sale where she was consigned by Rivera Training and Sales.
Edwin Gonzalez will ride R Morning Brew for the first time and they have post five. R Morning Brew is listed at 9-2 in the program.
Rounding out the field are Kip the Distance with jockey Jonathan Ocasio, My Denysse and rider Jesus Rios, Bee a Queen with Jose Morelos in the irons and Leonel Reyes has the call on Fede.
