Further Ado Installed As 2-1 Morning Line Favorite For Saturday’s $1 Million Haskell Stakes
At 0h03, on July 17, 2026 • By Monmouth Park
Spendthrift Farm’s multiple graded stakes-winning Further Ado has been installed as the 2-1 morning line favorite for Saturday’s $1 million, Grade 1 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes and trainer Brad Cox is hoping the colt takes him back to the Monmouth Park winner’s circle for the second time in five runnings.
The two-time Eclipse-Award winning trainer posed for photos with Gold Square’s Cyberknife when he set the Haskell stakes and track record in 2022. That year Cyberknife captured the Matt Winn (Grade 3) at Churchill Downs in his previous outing, and Further Ado was a facile winner of the same prep race June 7 under Irad Ortiz, Jr.
Seven 3-year-olds have entered the nine-furlong Haskell, a “Win and You’re In” race for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland.
NBC-TV will televise from 5 to 6 p.m. The Haskell has a scheduled post time of 5:47 p.m.
“We’re kind of taking the same path we did with Cyberknife,” Cox said by phone following the post position draw on Tuesday. “He was able to win a (Kentucky) Derby prep in a Grade 1 (the Arkansas Derby) prior to the Derby. We came back in the Matt Winn with him as well, and ultimately ended up with him winning the Haskell.”
Further Ado, a son of Gun Runner bred in Kentucky by John Oxley, was the victor in the April 4 Blue Grass (Grade 1) before finishing 11th after a compromised trip as the Kentucky Derby favorite on May 2. Now he looks to return to form and add to his impressive resume of 4-1-1 in 8 starts with $1,446958 in purse earnings.
“I thought (the Matt Winn) was a really good effort,” Cox said. “The numbers he received out of it basically say he’s the fastest two-turn 3-year-old colt in the country. I love what I’ve seen from him since. He’s held his condition since. His weight looks great. He’s always been a great workhorse, and he’s continued to train well and breeze well leading up to this.”
Further Ado will break from post 2 and Ortiz, Jr. gets the return call.
