Louie’s Look Ahead: Monmouth Park Haskell Preview Day
Welcome back to Louie’s Look Ahead! This week we head to the Jersey Shore for Haskell Preview Day at Monmouth Park!
Let’s take a look at the late pick 5. This includes four stakes, including the Pegasus Stakes, which guarantees a starting spot in the Haskell next month for the top two finishers.
Race 10 Pegasus Stakes, Listed. 1 1/16 M, dirt. 3YO. $150k.
This is a fun one, with the top two finishers guaranteed a spot in the starting gate for the Haskell in a month. This race includes a mix of veteran runners who just missed the very top of the sport; it also includes a fair number of late bloomers, as well.
A recent bloomer is the 4 Salute The Stars, a winner first off the bench last out for Brad Cox. Immediately brought him back at 9 furlongs, and he was ready. Should be even better here with a race under his belt, and I think the move to jockey Joel Rosario shows an added level of seriousness around this horse and his development.
The ‘veteran’ class in this one is 8 Kingsbarns, a favorite on the Horse Racing Happy Hour. He’s 8/5 for a reason, coming out of multiple graded wins. Some time off after the KY Derby made sense, and it’s time for him to fire again.
Top Selections: 4, 8, 7
Race 11 Grade 3 The Eatontown. 1 1/16M, turf. F&M 3+up. $150k.
The winner of this one gets a spot in the starting gate for the Matchmaker Stakes, which Chad Brown has won 5 of the last 6. He has two in here – the 3 Consumer Spending and Breeder’s Cup Alumna 8 Gina Romantica. I think both are serious threats to win the race, especially Gina Romantica coming off the layoff.
1 Surprisingly is in the 1 hole, and has Paco Lopez in the mount. Paco is probably the dean of jockeys at Monmouth currently, so she’s a must-include as well. 5 Spirit and Glory is an interesting local shooter, a winner last out in a listed stakes over this course. Quick time, too.
Top Selections: 8, 3, 1, 5
Race 12 Grade 3 Salvator Mile. 1M, dirt. 3+up. $150k.
The Salvator leads to the Monmouth Cup, a prestigious race on Haskell Day that has these four horses as its past four winners: Highly Motivated, Dr Post, Global Campaign, and War Story. That’s a nice group of winners for a G3 race.
I don’t see a horse of that class in this field, but it doesn’t mean we won’t have one drop in next month. Jockey Jevian Toledo is a perfect 5-for-5 on 8 Nimitz Class, who will try to get out front and stay out front on this group. I think he can absolutely do just that.
1 Petulante is lightly raced, but the results speak for themselves: 3 firsts, 2 seconds. 2-for-2 at the distance, and keeps Luis Saez in the irons. Trainer Victor Barboza is off to a nice start this year, and has Petulante in excellent form. It’ll be interesting to see if he likes two turns; my guess is he will.
Chad Brown has 9 Artorious off the layoff here; if he fires, he wins.
Top Selections: 8, 1, 9
Race 13 Grade 3 Monmouth. 1 ⅛ M, turf. 3+up. $150k.
We have a worthy ML favorite here in 1 Tribhuvan, off the bench for Chad Brown and Florent Geroux in the irons. Resume speaks for themselves.
I like the 5 Commandeer in this spot, second start off the layoff and a good one at that at Keeneland last out. Stays on turf for the second time ever, I’m hoping we get every bit of 5/1.
6 Catnip is an interesting entry as well, a winner of two straight including at Keeneland and here at Monmouth. 7/2 feels a little short, but he’s got a serious shot.
Top Selections: 1, 5, 6, 2
Race 14 Allowance. 6F, dirt. 3YO. $60k.
Going chalky here to close the sequence, but it appears 2 Smooth Flyin Mike and 5 Notah look like the most likely winners. I lean slightly toward Smooth Flyin Mike. 7 Heldish is a talented horse, but he loves to not win. Hard to figure him out.
Top Selections: 2, 5, 7.
#MonmouthPark #HorseRacingTips #Haskell #HorseRacing