Highly-consistent WinStar-bred Bishops Bay secured his fifth career Graded win with a game victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Phillip H. Iselin at Monmouth Park.
Trained by Brad Cox and owned by KAS Stable, Bishops Bay earned a 106 Beyer Speed Figure from the winning effort, where he battled down the stretch alongside a stubborn Graded stakes winner Chunk of Gold to his inside. But the 6-year-old Uncle Mo horse refused to be denied, winning the Iselin by a neck under jockey Luis Rivera, Jr. in a final time of 1:41.92 for the 1 1/16 miles.
Bishops Bay entered Saturday’s test from a narrow runner-up effort in the Grade 3 Salvator Mile in July at Monmouth, where he finished a nose to return rival East Avenue. The win in the Iselin earned Bishops Bay his first win of 2026, making him a Graded winner at 5, and 6, adding to an impressive resume that includes triumphs in last year’s Grade 3 Salvator Mile, Grade 3 Forty Niner, Grade 3 Westchester and Grade 2 Cigar Mile.
As a yearling, Bishops Bay was acquired for $450,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Sale by BSW/Crow Colts Group, before selling for $1.3 million at last year’s Keeneland November HORA Sale to his current ownership.
“He’s an awesome horse. It means a lot to us,” Cox told the Daily Racing Form. “I was a part of the team that picked him out when he was a yearling. I remember looking at him at Keeneland and falling in love with him. It took us a little while to get him to the races, but he’s been ultra-consistent now for three and a half years.”
The victory elevated Bishops Bay’s lifetime earnings to $2,632,800 with a consistent 17-10-5-0 record.
Bishops Bay is out of the fruitful Pioneerof the Nile mare Catch My Drift, who also produced Classic-placed and Graded stakes winning millionaire Catching Freedom (by Constitution).
