Commandment, Further Ado on separate summer paths for Brad Cox

Brad Cox gave bettors a clear split-screen Thursday at Churchill Downs. Commandment, his Florida Derby winner, went 5 furlongs in 1:00 4/5 with Dragoon Guard, a maintenance move that kept the Constitution colt on track for the $2 million Belmont Stakes on June 6 at Saratoga Race Course. Further Ado answered with more speed and a shorter roadmap, drilling 5 furlongs in a bullet :59 3/5 by himself and pointing toward the $500,000 Matt Winn Stakes the following day at Churchill Downs.

The two colts are headed in different directions, but both routes say plenty about Cox’s confidence. Commandment is being readied for the 1 1/4-mile Belmont, where the New York Racing Association has set the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival for June 3-7 at Saratoga, the third straight year the race will be held there while Belmont Park is under reconstruction. The draw is scheduled for Monday, June 1, a detail that will matter for pace, post position and trip handicapping at a venue that has become more familiar to the Classic trail than anyone expected three years ago.

Commandment’s résumé already makes him one of the most accomplished 3-year-olds in training. He won the Mucho Macho Man Stakes by 6 3/4 lengths, then took the Fountain of Youth Stakes by a neck before adding the Florida Derby. That record, plus the 5-furlong work in company, suggests Cox is preserving stamina for the biggest assignment rather than forcing another prep. John Velazquez is expected to ride Commandment in the Belmont, giving the colt a veteran hand for a race that should test both class and staying power.

Further Ado’s path is shorter now, but no less important. The Gun Runner colt won the Blue Grass Stakes by 11 lengths and already owns a Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes victory at 1 1/16 miles, making the Matt Winn a natural fit. Irad Ortiz Jr. is expected to ride him in the Grade 3 race, which Equibase says dates to 1976 and last year was won by East Avenue for Brendan P. Walsh and Luis Saez. Cox has also compared Further Ado to Cyberknife, a reminder that the barn believes the colt’s best work may still be ahead of him once the distances stretch again later in the summer.

Both horses ran in the Kentucky Derby on May 2, with Commandment seventh and Further Ado 11th, and both had spent the winter at Payson Park Training Center in Indiantown, Florida, building the foundation for this stretch run. The works on Thursday did more than keep them fit. They revealed a stable still sorting its pecking order, with Commandment aimed at the marquee Classic stage and Further Ado lined up for the next rung of Grade 1 ambition later in the season.