Angel of Kirk gives Yaupon another Saratoga juvenile winner
Angel of Kirk extended Yaupon’s Saratoga surge with a decisive maiden win for Brad Cox. The $500,000 filly added to a July streak that already included Booked and Sippin Pretty.
Angel of Kirk kept Yaupon’s Saratoga momentum rolling with a sharp maiden win in the second race July 11 at Saratoga Race Course. The well-tried 2-year-old filly won as much the best at 6-5, covering 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:05.35 and banking $63,250 from the $115,000 purse.
The victory carried extra weight because Angel of Kirk was making her first start for Greenwell Thoroughbreds and trainer Brad Cox. Equibase lists the Kentucky-bred dark bay or brown filly as a daughter of Yaupon out of Crazy Sweet, by Majestic Warrior, and notes that she sold for $500,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale. She was foaled March 21, 2024, and the win gave Greenwell a promising Saratoga juvenile to follow the rest of the summer.
Angel of Kirk did not arrive as a blank slate. Thoroughbred Daily News had pointed to a strong piece of morning work in mid-May, when she worked a best-of-27 half-mile from the gate in :47 flat. That background matched the way she ran on Friday, when she handled the trip cleanly and delivered the sort of debut that can move a young filly from prospect to player in one start.
More importantly, the win fit into a fast-moving Saratoga pattern for Yaupon. Booked already had given the stallion his first black-type victory of the meet when he took the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes on July 4, and then Sippin Pretty ran down favored Goodall to upset Friday’s Grade 3, $225,000 Victory Ride. Angel of Kirk’s maiden score turned that into a three-race burst of success at the Spa, strengthening the case that Yaupon is transmitting speed and precocity to his 2-year-olds.
That matters for horseplayers and breeders alike. Spendthrift Farm says Yaupon was the champion first-crop sire of 2025, leads all second-crop sires in 2026 by stakes horses and graded stakes horses, and carries a $60,000 live foal fee this year. With Angel of Kirk now on the list alongside Booked, Sippin Pretty and Goodall, the Saratoga juvenile division has started to look like a live showcase for Yaupon offspring, especially in maiden sprints and the next round of stakes races. Brad Cox, a multiple graded stakes-winning trainer with more than 2,900 career victories, added another useful Saratoga juvenile to a barn that rarely misses when the meet turns to young talent.
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