Some horses can leave their trainers scratching their heads, wondering which type of race suits them best.
Then there's one as easy to grasp as Bishops Bay.
Plotting his schedule isn't a challenging one for trainer Brad Cox. With the odd exception, he puts him in a dirt stakes race over a mile and lets the multimillionaire do his thing.
That placement often results in a victory, as it did Sept. 26 at Churchill Downs, when the 6-year-old outlasted Coal Battle by a head in the 1-mile Ack Ack Stakes (G3). The win in the $399,000 race improved Bishops Bay's record at the distance to 5-2-0 in seven starts.
As if he needed another advantage Saturday, Bishops Bay benefited from the hot hand of jockey Tyler Gaffalione, who notched his fifth win of the card in taking the Ack Ack. He added a sixth win a race later in the Lukas Classic Stakes (G2) aboard Juddmonte's Dragoon Guard for Cox.
Gaffalione did everything right in the Ack Ack, getting Bishops Bay to break well and avoiding going too fast early as Bishops Bay and longshot Macho Music duked out opening splits in :22.92 and :45.51.
Macho Music began to fade on the turn, and Bishops Bay opened up a 2-length edge with 6 furlongs in 1:09.82, but some of his fellow graded stakes-winning rivals were coming.
2024 Breeders' Futurity (G1) winner East Avenue launched a stalking bid between horses to go after Bishops Bay, while 2025 Tampa Bay Derby (G3) winner Owen Almighty and 2025 Rebel Stakes (G3) Coal Battle winner rallied inside and outside, respectively.
Coal Battle threatened to go past him in the final sixteenth, but Bishops Bay had just enough left to prevail in a head-bobbing finish. Bishops Bay completed the distance in 1:34.51 over a fast track, returning $7.68 for a $2 win wager.
"Everybody came at him, took their shot, but he kept fighting hard and really showed a lot there today," said Gaffalione, who won the Ack Ack for the second straight year after success aboard Tumbarumba in 2025.
Coal Battle finished a length ahead of Owen Almighty in third. East Avenue weakened to fourth, ahead of dual grade 3 winner Nu What's New, the 2-1 favorite, in fifth.
Though the Ack Ack was not a designated Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) qualifier, the race seems likely to propel some starters into the Oct. 31 race at Keeneland.
A top-level stakes victory is one of the few things lacking on Bishops Bay's record. His most prestigious win came in the Cigar Mile Handicap (G2) late last year after Pedro Lanz, acting on behalf of the Saudi Arabia ownership of KAS Stables, bought him for a record $1.3 million from the ELiTE consignment at the Keeneland November Horses of Racing Age Sale. Cox trained him before and after the sale.
Bishops Bay is 2-2-0 in five starts this year, with his only finish out of the exacta coming when he ran fourth behind Forever Young, Nysos , and Tumbarumba in the 1 1/8-mile Saudi Cup (G1) when sent to the Middle East in February.
Cox won the Ack Ack for the third time, after earlier victories with Zozos in 2023 and Plainsman in 2021.
Bishops Bay is a 6-year-old son of Uncle Mo, who stood at Ashford Stud in Kentucky before his death in late 2024.
WinStar Farm bred Bishops Bay in Kentucky out of the Pioneerof the Nile mare Catch My Drift, making him a half brother to 2024 Louisiana Derby (G2) winner Catching Freedom, a son of Constitution also trained by Cox.
