A quartet of colts who came undone in their most recent starts in the slop at
Saratoga headline Monday’s Grade 3, $350,000
Smarty
Jones at Parx Racing. The newly upgraded stakes, contested over one mile and
70 yards, is the premier local prep for the Grade 2, $1 million Pennsylvania
Derby on September 22.
Three in the Smarty Jones field exit the Grade 2 Jim Dandy, won by subsequent
Grade 1 Travers co-winner Alpha in wire-to-wire fashion after setting a soft
pace. Teeth of the Dog, who had taken the Grade 2 Dwyer in his previous race,
tracked in second to the stretch and ultimately wilted to fourth after getting
within a half-length of Alpha at the quarter pole.
Farther up the track were Prospective, the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby and Grade
3 Ohio Derby hero, who checked in ninth after a wide trip around the clubhouse
turn, and the multiple Grade 3-placed My Adonis, who preceded his fifth-place
finish with his second career stakes win in Monmouth Park’s Long Branch.
Also coming off a disappointing effort at the Spa is Easter Gift, who
captured his first two outings on off tracks including an allowance at Parx in
May. The Nick Zito charge next ran a strong second in the Grade 3 Pegasus,
beaten a neck by Le Barnardin, but finished 14 lengths behind Street Life as the
2-1 favorite in the July 27 Curlin after leading briefly down the backside.
Others of note in the nine-horse field are Junebugred, who captured a
similarly-named stakes at Oaklawn Park in January. Unplaced in a division of the
Grade 3 Southwest next time, the ridgling returned from 5 1/2-month layoff in a
Saratoga allowance August 4 but was no factor against a tough group of older
horses.
Pennsylvania-bred Traffic Light has won his last four starts over the Parx
main track, including a state-bred stakes two back, and should be a prominent
factor from the start. Making his stakes debut in the Smarty Jones is Not a
Given, who’s taken three straight at Monmouth in impressive fashion for
owner-breeder Darley Stable and trainer Kiaran McLaughlin.
A competitive field of 11 will contest the Grade 3, $350,000
Turf
Monster Handicap, a leading prep for the Grade 2 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint
at Santa Anita.
The likely favorite in the five-furlong dash is Bridgetown, who snapped a
three-race losing skid in the Troy at Saratoga less than three weeks ago. This
marks the second trip to Philadelphia for the Todd Pletcher pupil, who finished
second, beaten two lengths, to Ben’s Cat in the June 17 Parx Dash as the odds-on
choice.
Ben’s Cat, the defending champion of the Turf Monster, is a credible 3-2-1-0
over the local sod, but has experienced several inexplicable defeats this term.
The latest was a fourth in a slowly-run edition of the Pennsylvania Governor’s
Cup. Also exiting that Penn National fixture is its top three — Kyma, Car Thief
and Super Chunky — as well as the capable fifth-place finisher, multiple stakes
winner Great Mills.
Chamberlain Bridge, who captured the 2009 and 2010 renewals of the Turf
Monster and was a close third last year, is hard to take lightly even at the
advanced age of eight. A former Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint hero, the War Chant
gelding exits a comfortable score in the My Frenchman at Monmouth.
Also entered are two main-track notables: multiple stakes winner Royal
Currier, whose taken the Mr. Prospector and Teddy Drone in his last two at
Monmouth, and Sean Avery, who’s been out of commission since upsetting the Grade
1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga 13 months ago.
A dozen fillies and mares will also sprint five furlongs in the $200,000
Turf
Amazon. The three-year-old Sensible Lady, who’s won four stakes this year
including three over older rivals, breaks from post 11 under Xavier Perez. The
main threats are multiple stakes winner Inspired; the once beaten Nechez Dawn,
heroine of the Daisycutter Handicap at Del Mar; the Steve Asmussen-trained Well
Deserved; and last year’s Turf Amazon runner-up Bounding Bi.
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