Monmouth Park played host to the NATC Futurity on Saturday as Forty Thieves captured the colts division just after R Betty Graybull got up in the fillies race.
Ridden by Rafael Mojica Jr., Forty Thieves rolled to a 5 1/2 length win going the six furlongs over a sloppy main track in 1:09 4/5. The colt by Read the Footnotes returned $7.80, $3.60 and $3.20 and topped a $22.60 exacta. Valiancy, the 6-5 choice in the field of six, paid $2.80 and $2.40. Pray for Action was another length and a quarter back in third and paid $3.20 to show.
“He did everything right,” said winning trainer Steve Klesaris. “He was very impressive and definitely has a bright future in front of him. We’ll take him back to the training center, evaluate him and then go on from there.”
Forty Thieves scored for the second time in as many starts after taking the $200,000 NATC Futurity, a race restricted to horses that have cataloged for sale during 2008 and paid a 2008 advertising fund fee. He has banked $144,000 for owner Puglisi Racing, LLC.
Fantasy Lane Stable’s R Betty Graybull stalked the early pacesetters before powering past her rivals in deep stretch to post a neck victory in the $200,000 Fillies Division of the NATC Futurity.
Trained by Alan Seewald, R Betty Graybull, a daughter of Holy Bull, covered the six furlongs in the slop in 1:10 3/5 and returned $4, $2.60 and $2.10 as the odds-on choice. Kays and Jays, one of the early pacesetters, returned $3.60 and $2.20 and completed a $14.20 exacta. Trusty Temper, the other pacesetter, was another length and a half back in third, good for a $3 show mutuel.
“She broke real sharp,” said winning jockey C. H. Marquez Jr., “and a few horses were going head to head for the early head. I didn’t want to pull back so I kept my ground and a couple horses backed off. I sat third around the turn and she kicked in when I asked her in the lane.”
A $37,000 yearling purchase, R Betty Graybull has now won two races in three starts with earnings of $153,200.
Say It With a Kiss raced into command on the far turn, and then sailed to the wire for a three-length victory in the $50,000 allowance feature at Monmouth Park on Thursday.
The winner, trained by Joe Pierce Jr. and ridden by Daniel Centeno, ran the six furlongs in 1:11 flat over a fast main track and paid $6.20, $2.60 and $2.20 across the board as second choice in the field of seven New Jersey-bred fillies and mares.
Aly Blair, the 4-5 favorite, made a belated late run that fell far short and had to settle for second, paying $2.20 to place and $2.10 to show and completing the $12.20 exacta. Emily Allstar, who set much of the pace, held on for third, paying $2.80 to show.
Say It With a Kiss, a daughter of Say Florida Sandy owned by Janet Laszlo and Hal C.B. Lindh, scored her second win of the meet in five starts. She broke her maiden at first asking in July and finished third in an allowance race in her most recent start.
Smarty Jones filly keeps
Croll legacy alive at Monmouth
Smarty Jones, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner who was retired before he could make an expected start in the 2004 Haskell, is remembered fondly in many places, one of them being Barn 2 at Monmouth.
That’s the home of trainer Jason Servis, whose brother John trained Smarty Jones. Jason was deeply involved in the Smarty experience as chief cheerleader for his brother. No wonder then that he’s bubbling over at the prospect of training a Dennis Drazinowned filly named Smarty Bull who just came into his barn last week.
“I’m excited because I get to train a filly by Smarty Jones,” Servis said. “And not only that, but she’s got a real Monmouth connection through her dam, Bam Bam Bull.”
Drazin owns and raced Bam Bam Bull, a daughter of Holy Bull, who keeps alive the Jimmy Croll legacy in New Jersey racing. The Hall of Fame horseman, who passed away this summer, trained Bam Bam Bull to four wins in eight starts, including a maiden victory at Monmouth and a stakes score at the Meadowlands.
Bam Bam Bull is pure Croll all the way through. Not only did the legendary horseman own and train the stallion, Horse of the Year Holy Bull, but he also trained Mr. Prospector, who is the grandsire of Bam Bam Bull’s dam Bad Pussycat.
Smarty Bull is expected to start breezing shortly and could make her first start during the Meadowlands meeting that opened Tuesday.