C2 Racing Stable may have left Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) winner White Abarrio behind in South Florida to continue training toward the June 7 Metropolitan Handicap (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, but C2, a partnership of brothers Mark and Clint Cornett, is still coming out firing this week at Churchill Downs.
In upcoming graded stakes action at Churchill Downs with other partners, C2 Racing Stable owns Literate, one of six fillies and mares facing Thorpedo Anna in the May 2 La Troienne Stakes (G1); Early On, the Gazelle Stakes (G3) runner-up who competes in that afternoon's Kentucky Oaks (G1); Mystic Lake and Haulin Ice, both entered in the May 3 Derby City Distaff Stakes (G1); and Neoequos, a 30-1 outsider in Saturday's main event, the Kentucky Derby (G1).
Though most are longshots—Mystic Lake is the shortest price of the group at 8-1 on the morning line—there is potential upside if they can surprise. Except Neoequos, their stakes runners are females whose residual broodmare value would increase with a grade 1 placing or victory.
As for the Derby, it is a bucket-list race for any owner. The $5 million purse is secondary to the prestige.
Speaking outside the Churchill Downs barn of trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., who trains the majority of the C2 Racing Stable's 32 horses in training, Mark Cornett said he and his partners are hoping for a Mystik Dan-like ground-saving trip from Neoequos in Saturday's 1 1/4-mile first leg of the Triple Crown.
Last year, Brian Hernandez Jr. guided the Kenny McPeek-trained Mystik Dan to the rail after breaking from post 3, and with a decisive inside bid to take command on the second turn, Mystik Dan outlasted Sierra Leone and Forever Young for a nose victory.
Though Neoequos has raced on or near the pace in most of his races, Cornett envisions the 3-year-old son of Neolithic tracking the leaders in the Derby.
"We're gonna be sitting behind the first flight of horses saving ground," he predicted. "Maybe we can follow a horse out of there and just sit there in behind him and see what happens."
Neoequos likely must improve multiple lengths to contend late in the 20-horse Derby. He stalked leaders in third in his most recent start in the March 29 Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park, sitting two lengths off the early pace before launching a backstretch bid. He was overhauled down the stretch to show behind the now-sidelined Tappan Street and Sovereignty, the 5-1 second favorite in the Kentucky Derby.
A start earlier at Gulfstream Park, Neoequos went to the lead in the March 1 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) before fading in the 1 1/16-mile race to be third behind Sovereignty and River Thames, a colt pointed to the second jewel of the Triple Crown, the May 17 Preakness Stakes (G1).
"I was lucky enough to negotiate a deal to buy into him after Fountain of Youth," Cornett said of Neoequos.
A $22,000 purchase by Joseph from the Abbie Road Farm consignment to the 2023 Ocala Breeders' Sales October Yearling Sale, Neoequos raced in the Fountain of Youth for Ian Parsard, Shining Stables, and Stefania Farms. C2 Racing Stable, Ken Reimer, Paul Braverman, and Timothy Pinch have since joined in ownership.
Purchasing horses with established racing performances is the norm for Mark and Clint, with White Abarrio and Soul of an Angel, their Eclipse Award-winning female sprinter in 2024, being two home-run horses for them and other partners. Reaping the rewards of her accomplishments, C2 Racing Stable, Agave Racing Stable, and Reimer sold her in March for $2.6 million during a Fasig-Tipton digital sale.
Cornett calls Joseph "a hell of a horse trainer," praising his attention to detail and communication.
The Cornett brothers, who founded C2 Racing Stable Aug. 30, 2021, less than a month before acquiring White Abarrio, have added a select number of unraced horses to their stable. Besides purchasing some 2-year-olds in training, last year they acquired six yearlings with buys totaling $1.8 million, Mark said.
Partners have since been added with those unraced runners, who have shown promise in their early training as 2-year-olds, Cornett said.
"We ended up on anywhere from 25% to 50% of them, so just to diversify the risk," he noted. "It's getting harder and harder to buy horses off the racetrack."
Neoequos, bred in Florida by Matalona Thoroughbreds and Helen and Joseph Barbazon out of the Birdstone mare Bold Birdie, is 2-2-2 in seven starts with earnings of $291,050. He has yet to win a stakes race but has hit the board in four such races. Last year, he chased Florida-bred standout Rated by Merit.
Flavien Prat will ride Neoequos in the Kentucky Derby unless the John Shirreffs-trained Baeza, the Santa Anita Derby (G1) runner-up, draws into the field. In that case, Prat would ride the latter, a 12-1 chance in the Derby.
Cornett said Luis Saez likely would ride Neoequos if Baeza draws into the field. Saez had been scheduled to ride the Brad Cox-trained Tappan Street before the colt was injured in an April 26 workout, forcing him to miss the Kentucky Derby. Neoequos will be C2 Racing Stable's second Derby starter after White Abarrio ran 16th in the 2022 race for the Cornett brothers and Antonio Pagnano's La Milagrosa Stable.
Speaking of C2 Racing Stable's success, Cornett said, "We're still cashing checks. Hopefully, we've got a big one to go."
