Oceanport

HOTSTUFANTHENSOME (Awesome Again) will be going for his third straight win on
Sunday while taking on eight rivals in the $150,000 Oceanport S. (G3) at
Monmouth Park. The Norman Pointer-trained five-year-old captured an optional
claimer by a neck prior to taking the Elkwood S. in his last one. In both cases,
the bay gelding took the lead from the gate and was never headed, so it’s
reasonable to say that jockey Rajiv Maragh will utilize those same tactics in
this 8 1/2-furlong turf event. Hotstufanthensome earned a 111 BRIS Late Pace
rating as well as a 104 BRIS Speed figure for his Elkwood run and loves both the
course (6-5-1-0) and distance (7-4-0-0). We can’t pick against him.

G P FLEET (Northern Afleet) has the best chance to run down our top pick.
Trained by Steve Flint, the five-year-old chestnut has faced tough competition
throughout his career, most recently running second by a neck in the Opening
Verse H. at Churchill Downs. That came in mid-June, but G P Fleet has come off
layoffs in the past and still been competitive. He owns a 4-4-0 record from 10
starts at the distance and could come with a game enough rally to score under
Javier Castellano.

SPRUCE RUN (Repriced) could add some value to the top three at 12-1 on the
morning line. The Linda Rice-trained seven-year-old veteran doesn’t own quite
the same numbers as our top two, but is a horse for the course (16-4-4-3) and
distance (15-4-4-1). Spruce Run will likely be in the early mix with C.C. Lopez
in the irons and could forget to stop.

We would also like to see higher numbers for AY CARAMBA (Brz) (Roi Normand),
but the Bobby Frankel charge could still earn a top-three placing here. The bay
five-year-old has won his past two starts and earned a 111 Late Pace figure for
the last one, an optional claimer at Churchill. He’s been working well over
Monmouth’s main track and will have Gary Stevens aboard. EVERYTHING TO GAIN (Sky
Classic) could easily take this one off a four-length victory in an optional
claimer at Churchill last out. However, the Dale Romans-trained six-year-old has
yet to earn a win at 1 1/16 miles from four tries, placing third in three such
events. We’ll let him beat us.

COTTAGE (Arg) (Ibero [Arg]) is almost always close at the wire, but hasn’t
been able to finish in front since mid-February. He’ll still be a threat in the
exotics so don’t leave him out. STORMY ROMAN (Future Storm) ran third behind
Hotstufanthensome and Cottage in the Elkwood last out and could make his
presence felt in the bottom of the gimmicks. Neither TAM’S TERMS (Private Terms)
nor STORMY RAY (Storm Creek) look fast enough to challenge these.