In 2020 Brad Cox earned his first Eclipse Award as champion trainer after winning four Breeders' Cup races at Keeneland, training two champions, and making more than $18.9 million with his stable.
Those figures were just a sampling of what was to come in 2021, for which he was honored with his second consecutive Eclipse Award Feb. 10. His horses made $31.8 million in purses this past year, capped by a 1-3 finish from trainees Knicks Go and Essential Quality in the $5.4 million Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).
Both horses earned Eclipse Awards, with Essential Quality taking the 3-year-old male title and Knicks Go capturing the older dirt male award and the racing's most coveted honor, Horse of the Year.
Cox's monetary tally on the season was a single-year record for a North American trainer, surpassing Chad Brown's 2019 record of just over $31.1 million.
Besides the Breeders' Cup Classic, 2021 victories in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) and the Whitney Stakes (G1) led Korea Racing Authority's Knicks Go to amass more than $7.3 million. A grade 1 winner at 2 for trainer Ben Colebrook, Knicks Go soared to the heights of the older horse division for Cox last year.
He wasn't the only classy gray in the Cox barn. Godolphin's Essential Quality made more than $3.4 million, highlighted by a victory in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1).
"This is unbelievable," Cox, 41, said after Essential Quality's Belmont. "This is what it's all about—the classics. Obviously, it's my first taste. Unbelievable."
Just twice did Essential Quality lose in seven starts in 2021— finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and showing behind Knicks Go and Medina Spirit in the Breeders' Cup Classic.
After the Classic, Cox noted there is rarely much time for a trainer to pause to reflect on achievements.
"You get to celebrate for about 15 minutes, maybe 30, and then it's always back to work. It's a demanding job, but hopefully it will leave a legacy," Cox said, mentioning his sons' interest in training.
Essential Quality was not his only top performer in the Triple Crown for Cox. Juddmonte's Mandaloun crossed the wire second behind Medina Spirit in the Kentucky Derby, and Kentucky stewards could elevate him to first if Medina Spirit is disqualified after post-race tests showed the prohibited race day presence of betamethasone.
Last summer Mandaloun took the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) upon the disqualification of Hot Rod Charlie for interfering with another horse in the stretch.
The Haskell was one of Cox's 10 grade 1 stakes victories in 2021 and 30 graded stakes wins overall.
