Hit Show Could Provide Cox With Third Fayette Victory

While many of the top two-turn dirt horses await running Nov. 2 at Del Mar in either the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) or the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1), others pursue a less demanding graded stakes opportunity in the Fayette Stakes (G2) Oct. 26, the closing day of the Keeneland fall meet.

The 1 1/8-mile dirt race carries a $350,000 purse, luring graded stakes winners Hit Show , Rattle N Roll , Trademark , Tumbarumba , and Heroic Move  into the 10-horse lineup. The Fayette offers further appeal to horsemen with its placement about five weeks before the $600,000 Clark Stakes (G2) Nov. 29 at Churchill Downs.

Trainer Brad Cox, a two-time Fayette winner (Leofric  , 2018; West Will Power , 2022), has the 2-1 morning-line Fayette favorite in Hit Show , who, in his first start since being acquired by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani’s Wathnan Racing, captured the Lukas Classic Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs over a sloppy track Sept. 28. Before that race, the gray and/or roan Candy Ride   colt had won five of 12 starts for his owners/breeders Gary and Mary West, including the Aug. 4 West Virginia Governor’s Stakes (G3) at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort in his start preceding the Lukas Classic. Cox has trained Hit Show throughout his career.

Hit Show wins the Lukas Classic!

Jockey: @flothejock
Trainer: @bradcoxracing
Owner: Wathnan Racing pic.twitter.com/Ff3iyqgcg1

— Churchill Downs (@ChurchillDowns) September 29, 2024

Florent Geroux, aboard Leofric for Cox’s first win in this race six years ago, returns in the irons aboard the stalking Hit Show. He has been aboard the colt throughout his 3-for-4 campaign as a 4-year-old this year.

Wathnan Racing is also represented by Brian Lynch-traned Tumbarumba (6-1 odds). The latter may prove the one to catch under Luis Saez in the Fayette, stretching out from a mile and drawn toward the inside in post 2.

Although no match for Hit Show in the Lukas Classic when third, beaten 3 3/4 lengths, Rattle N Roll (4-1 odds) appears likely to improve Saturday in his second start following nearly a year layoff.

The Kenny McPeek-trained 5-year-old son of Connect   is a two-time winner in four starts over the Keeneland main track, first taking the 2021 Breeders’ Futurity (G1) as a 2-year-old and then adding the 2023 Ben Ali Stakes (G3) as a 4-year-old.

A late runner, Rattle N Roll races for the Mackin family’s Lucky Seven Stable and has regular rider Brian Hernandez Jr. up. With more than $1.7 million in earnings, he is the richest competitor in Saturday’s race and one of three millionaires entered, joining Hit Show and Trademark.

BBN Racing’s Trademark disappointed in the 2023 Fayette but rebounded in the Clark a little more than a month later in edging First Mission  by a nose in that race. The Vicki Oliver trainee, a 5-year-old Upstart   gelding, is a 10-1 odds on the morning after finishing out of the money in five starts following the Clark.