CLIVE Cox is the man with the Golden touch and he is hoping to get his hands on another big race this weekend.
His speed machine Golden Horde is primed for Sunday’s Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville – where he will clash with old rival Earthlight.
The top French colt got the better of the argument when the pair fought out a ding-dong finish to last season’s Middle Park Stakes.
Golden Horde has gone on to win the Commonwealth Cup this year while Earthlight defended his unbeaten record in a Listed race last month.
Cox reckons his horse, who was third in the July Cup last time, is in top shape ahead of the rematch with the score currently 2-0 in Earthlight’s favour.
Cox told Sun Racing: “He has done really well since the July Cup, he is a wonderful horse to deal with and his work has been great.
“That race was only three weeks after his win at Royal Ascot and he acquitted himself really well.
“He’s proven his Group 1 status winning the Commonwealth and backing it up with a big run against the older horses.
“We’ve been behind Earthlight twice, but the ground was very dead when he was third to him in the Morny at Deauville last year.
“It looks like it’s going to be faster this weekend which will suit him. They had a great battle in the Middle Park last year and I like to think that we can still progress.
“It’s a slightly longer trip but I’ve got no concerns about the extra half a furlong.”
Cox has also enjoyed big-race success with top two-year-old’s Supremacy and Nando Parrado this summer.
Supremacy bolted up in the Richmond Stakes at Glorious Goodwood while Nando Parrado sprung a 150-1 shock in the Coventry – and they are now on a collision course.
He said: “Supremacy was breathtaking at Goodwood. It was the top-rated performance by a two-year-old this year which is no mean feat.
“He’s come out of that great and we’ve entered him for the Morny, and that is the way we could go with Nando.
“He was to run him in the Papin, but he tweaked a muscle so we had to be careful and take our time and make sure everything was right with that.
“We took him out of the Phoenix this weekend because it just came a bit quick.
“We were thinking about the Morny before Supremacy was so impressive at Goodwood. But at the moment he is going that way too.”
SEE ALL FREE BETS HERE
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.sportingexcitement.com/horse-racing/top-jumps-jockey-aidan-coleman-ruled-out-until-october-after-suffering-broken-arm-at-southwell
