Cox Hopes It’s Fourth Time Lucky With Bishops Bay

CIGAR MILE WINNER TO REPRESENT KING ABDULLAH BIN ABDULAZIZ & SONS

Image: Bishops Bay (left) wins the G2 Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct, Dec 6, 2025. Credit: Mathea Kelley

Friday February 6, 2026 – Top US trainer, Brad Cox, is set to take another shot at the Group 1 USD$20m Saudi Cup, with King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz & Sons’ recent acquisition, Bishops Bay (USA).

Cox has amassed 240 Graded/Group stakes victories, 59 at the top level, and has had three previous attempts at The Saudi Cup.

He came closest with the Faisal AlKhatani-owned Saudi Crown with a third in 2024 but has also collected a fourth in 2021 with Knicks Go and ninth with Mandaloun in 2022.

However this time Cox feels he is that much closer to cracking the code of Saudi success.

“This is our fourth time going over there,” he explained. “I think there is definitely some advantage to having been there. Dustin (Dugas, assistant trainer) is representing the team this year before I arrive and he has plenty of experience.

“If you go over there, you roll on with it. You’re making a commitment to run if the horse is healthy and doing well and that’s why having someone like Dustin is so important.”

Fresh off a victory in Aqueduct’s G2 Cigar Mile Handicap on December 6, Bishops Bay was purchased a couple of weeks prior to that by King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz & Sons’ “White Stables” for $1.3 million at Keeneland. That purchase came mere days after winning the G3 Forty Niner Stakes over the same New York one-turn mile.

“Anytime these horses leave their environment like he had to, going to the Keeneland sale (Kentucky), then on a van the next day right back to Belmont New York before shipping like he did over to Aqueduct and winning a big race – that just shows us already that he’s able to overcome things,” Cox said.

“He should be able to handle the ship over to the Middle East and settle in over the next week or so and to be honest, I loved his last breeze going into this race. It was all we could ask for in regards to the way he did it and I feel like it was a ‘Grade 1 breeze.’

“We are hoping we can transfer his form and then get another eighth of a mile, because he has proven to be really good at the one-turn mile. When they’re doing as well as he is, in my experience, you can ship them anywhere in the world and get them to perform. Obviously Hit Show (USA) did that last year.”

Cox also has a big chance in the G3 $1.5m Saudi Derby presented by ZOOD Reality with My World (USA) who comes off a pair of New York stakes wins, having taken the Listed Nashua Stakes and Jerome Stakes in his last two efforts.

“He’s working well, he’s fit and he’s ready,” Cox said. “He’s proven at the distance, which is key, and I think he likes the one-turn. I’m not scared to run him two turns (beyond 1600m), but this is a nice race with a nice purse. I also think the timing works really well off his last run. Saying all that, it just makes a lot of sense, so here we are.”

For the first time, the Saudi Derby will be a points qualifier for the G1 $5m Kentucky Derby in May and offers a new avenue to Louisville, especially for deep benches like Cox’s, as well as runners from Japan, the GCC and Europe.

“Just by traveling to the Middle East gives us options and doesn’t mean we are off the Derby Trail at all,” Cox concluded.

“I just thought the way we spaced out the Jerome to this race made a lot of sense and it’s going to be a good race. He’s going to have to step up and move forward and I think, if he does that, he’ll be in the mix.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. will ride My World, while 2024 Saudi Cup winner Junio Alvarado takes the reins on Bishops Bay.

**ENDS**