The connections of Pennsylvania Derby winner Saudi Crown will have a lot to think about in the coming weeks - whether to run in the Breeders’ Cup, which Breeders’ Cup race to target if they choose to do that, or simply set a path to the $20 million Saudi Cup in February. Saudi Crown came out of his front-running, half-length victory in the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby in good order, trainer Brad Cox said, and the horse was expected to arrive back at Churchill Downs on Sunday night. Cox said the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic and the $1 million BC Dirt Mile would both be considered for Saudi Crown, but the trainer wanted to find out more about how those races are shaping up before making any commitments. “I would like to find out who’s running where and see how big the fields are going to be, pace projections and stuff like that would go into what I think,” Cox said Sunday. :: Bet with the Best! Get Free DRF PPs and Cashback when you wager. Join DRF Bets. Saudi Crown is a front-runner, and displayed his speed yet again Saturday over the sloppy Parx Racing surface and carrying it 1 1/8 miles to defeat the late-running Dreamlike by a half-length. Cox said Saudi Crown isn’t dissimilar to Knicks Go, who won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in 2020 and the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2021. He won both of those races in front-running fashion, the Classic being his first try at 1 1/4 miles. “He’s every bit as capable of getting a mile and a quarter as Knicks Go was,” said Cox, noting that Santa Anita, site of this year’s Breeders’ Cup, “lends itself to where speed would be going a mile and a quarter. But he’s not the only one with speed. “We’ll do our homework, see who’s going where and if it makes sense for the horse,” Cox said. Saudi Crown, who earned a 105 Beyer Speed Figure for his victory, is owned by FMQ Stables, a Saudi Arabian-based group. Obviously, the $20 million Saudi Cup in late February is a race on Saudi Crown’s agenda. Cox said that wouldn’t preclude Saudi Crown from running in a Breeders’ Cup race. Cox said he’s just not sure the best way to get to the Saudi Cup as he had disappointments with Mandaloun and Knicks Go. “I know how to get there, I don’t know how to perform well there yet,” Cox said. Saudi Crown wasn’t the only Cox-trained 3-year-old to win stakes on Saturday. At Churchill Downs, Everso Mischievous won the Harrods Creek by 3 1/4 lengths. He ran seven furlongs in 1:22.15 and earned a 94 Beyer Speed Figure. Slip Mahoney won the Bourbon Trail by a neck, running 1 3/16 miles in 1:56.66 and earning a 91 Beyer. “I don’t know where we go with them,” Cox said. “They both ran solid figures. Everso Mischievous could stretch out a little farther, where that’s going to put him I don’t know yet.” Ceiling Crusher unlikely for Breeders’ Cup Ceiling Crusher, the front-running winner of Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion at Parx, will not likely be supplemented to the Breeders’ Cup this year, trainer Doug O’Neill said Sunday. Ceiling Crusher, a California-bred daughter of Mr. Big, is not nominated to the Breeders’ Cup. It would cost her connections $100,000 to supplement nominate to either the $2 million Distaff at 1 1/8 miles or the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint at seven furlongs. “I doubt that will happen,” O’Neill said Sunday. “Being optimistic we can have a really nice 4-year-old campaign.” O’Neill credited the owners Wonderland Racing, Todd Cady, Tim Kasparoff and Ty Leatherman with being extremely patient with Ceiling Crusher, who has now won a Grade 1 going 1 1/16 miles and the Grade 3 Torrey Pines at seven furlongs. “I really credit her campaign to the owners for being super patient and letting her come into her own before throwing her into the deep water til now,” O’Neill said. O’Neill said a race like the Grade 1 La Brea, a seven-furlong race at Santa Anita typically run on Dec. 26, could be a way to get a jump-start on Ceiling Crusher’s 4-year-old season. “We can let her tell us when she’s ready to run, but having that as a potential next start late in the year seems like a strong possibility,” O’Neill said. Ceiling Crusher, who earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure for her Cotillion victory in beating Pretty Mischievous by a half-length, is now 6 for 7 with $938,400 in earnings. She ships back to Southern California on Tuesday, O’Neill said. Next will stick with marathons The connections of Next will continue to focus on marathon races for their 5-year-old gelding by Not This Time because, well, it’s what he does best. Next won Saturday’s Grade 3 Greenwood Cup by 25 lengths at Parx, adding that to convincing victories in the Birdstone Stakes at Saratoga and the Grade 2 Brooklyn at Belmont Park. Trainer Doug Cowans said he is not tempted to shorten the horse up to 1 1/4 miles in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic because the race is typically not run at the same pace as the longer races. “The reason I stretched him out to begin with is because we get the tempo that we’re getting and I knew he would like it,” Cowans said. “I don’t want to shorten him up and take that away from him because it’s working. How many times do you make a plan for a horse and it doesn’t work out? When one is working, why would you deviate from the plan?” The likely plan for Next would be the $250,000 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Stakes at Santa Anita on Nov. 4. Next won that race last year at Keeneland when the purse was $350,000. Next earned a 104 Beyer Speed Figure for his Greenwood Cup victory. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.