Friday’s KY Racing Spotlight: Cox, Caton and Koch!
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022) — Reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox, horse-racing analyst Caton Bredar and State Rep. Matt Koch are this week’s featured guests on Kentucky Racing Spotlight presented by the Kentucky HBPA. The radio program runs 6-7 p.m. ET Fridays on Louisville’s ESPN 680 AM/105.7 FM through March 4.
Check out this week’s video promo!
The Cox-trained Knicks Go is the overwhelming favorite to be voted Horse of the Year in the wake of his victory in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. The 6-year-old horse in his career finale faces a showdown with Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Life Is Good in Saturday’s $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, a Grade 1 race Knicks Go won last year.
Cox, the lifelong Louisvillian who won his first Triple Crown race last spring with Essential Quality in the Belmont Stakes, also is favored to repeat as North America’s outstanding trainer when the Eclipse Awards are announced Feb. 10 at Santa Anita.
Cox comes into the Pegasus following a big weekend where 2021 Kentucky Derby runner-up Mandaloun made his first start in six months, taking the Fair Grounds’ Grade 3 Louisiana Stakes over Midnight Bourbon. Mandaloun could yet be declared the Derby winner, depending whether the Churchill Downs stewards ultimately disqualify Medina Spirit for a medication infraction.
Caton Bredar — the daughter of the late trainer Ray Metzler, granddaughter of Hall of Fame jockey Ted Atkinson and married to Doug Bredar, agent for Florent Geroux — and is one of the most-respected broadcast journalists and analysts in horse racing, currently covering Arkansas’ Oaklawn Park for TVG. Bredar is a fixture on TVG’s coverage of Keeneland and Churchill Downs, serves as Kentucky Downs’ paddock analyst and is sought after by tracks to work their big days. Bredar will share her thoughts on the Pegasus World Cup and $1 million Pegasus Turf as well as Oaklawn’s $750,000 Southwest Stakes and the 2022 Kentucky Derby.
Kentucky Racing Spotlight co-hosts Joe Clabes and Jennie Rees also will talk with Rep. Matt Koch as the show continues its interview series with lawmakers who have impacted horse racing. The co-owner of Shawhan Place, Koch is a farmer, commercial breeder and sales consigner who came to the
Kentucky Legislature in 2019. The former Marine Corps intelligence officer grew up in Paris on Claiborne Farm, where his dad, Gus Koch Sr., was the longtime manager. Matt Koch’s legislative district covers Bath, Bourbon, Nicholas counties and part of Fayette County.
Kentucky Racing Spotlight airs weekly through March 4 on ESPN 680-AM/105.7 FM, the region’s sports-talk leader. The program also will be streamed live at espnlouisville.com, on the ESPN 680 app and the TuneIn and iHeart apps. The replay will be available on espnlouisville.com under the podcasts tab. All shows also are archived at davisinnovation.com/kyracing.
In addition to the Kentucky HBPA, Kentucky Racing Spotlight is sponsored by Davis Innovation equine marketing, the Louisville Thoroughbred Society, NKYTribune.com and Equine Equipment manufacturer discounts.
